As a Sorting Captain you are responsible for organizing Sorting Parties. Traditionally we have had one big Sorting Party on Sunday morning of the muster. However, in recent years we have found it very helpful to host an additional Sorting Party on Saturday evening of some of the bigger musters, specifically, Deep River and Westbrook. By doing a major sort on Saturday evening, we can send a truck full of sorted cans and bottles to the Redemption Center first thing Sunday morning. Lead one, join one! (Or just pick the time that works best for you.)
1. Rally 'Round the Recycling. Make sure your sorting crew knows when and where to meet. Some captains have found it helpful to send a text message or tweet to all of their crew members 5 minutes before sorting begins, to remind everyone to join in. Others like to create buddy systems. The more the merrier! Sorting Parties a great way to get interested persons involved in Green Team, because they are energizing and dirty.
2. Crew Assignment. Assign each crew member one type of redeemable material: GLASS, PLASTIC, or ALUMINUM CANS. Give them a clear plastic bag and have them pick out only that type of material to fill their bag. There is usually lots of plastic and aluminum, and less glass, so assign more crew members to cans and plastic and fewer crew members to glass.
3. Safety. When assigning crew members, you should be handing out rubber gloves and making sure everyone is wearing shoes. THIS IS A MUST. Please assign glass only to responsible older teenagers and adults. Often, glass bottles are broken during transport across the muster field and as bags are emptied into the sorting pile.
4. Sorting commences! Once you have a few crew members at your party, they can begin dumping unsorted bags of recycling into a pile (if you are doing a Sunday morning party after a Saturday evening party was done the night before, make sure you do not dump out bags that have already been sorted - that can be really depressing!). Each crew member should take one of the bags you just emptied and begin collecting their assigned recyclable material from the pile. Continue adding unsorted recyclables to the pile, and keep an eye out for crew members who are fashionably late. Make sure you welcome them to the party and do a quick safety check for them. Try to reuse all of the plastic bags that the recycling comes in; however if a bag is really gross, it is okay to just throw it out and get a new one.
5. Keep a bag for trash. Not everyone on the muster field is observant of the "recycling only" signs on our recycling bins. You will inevitably be sorting trash out of your recycling pile. Make sure you have a bag or two ready for this. You may even want to assign a crew member to collect only trash if you are at DRAM or Westbrook - pick someone who is older, this is not a great task for the youngest folks because it often involves also dealing with broken glass.
6. Talk up Green Team and the Camp! We like to host the Sorting Party in a very visible area of the muster field. This way, our community members can see how hard we work, and they can offer their support. As people come by to see what we are doing, make sure you explain that this is the Green Team effort to raise money for scholarships to Fife and Drum Camp. Try to sort with new comers and explain all of the things they can do to help Green Team and tell them a little bit about why Camp is important to you.
7. Cleaning up: leaving it better than we found it. After all of the bags are sorted, make sure all of the left over trash is picked up and disposed of in the way the muster committee has designated. Make sure your crew gets water and a snack, and knows where the muster "shower" hose is located to wash up. There should also be sanitizer in the supply kit. While you're in the supply kit, please remember to record all volunteer names on the Green Team clipboard - this is the only way we'll know to add them to the Facebook thank you and the archives.
1. Rally 'Round the Recycling. Make sure your sorting crew knows when and where to meet. Some captains have found it helpful to send a text message or tweet to all of their crew members 5 minutes before sorting begins, to remind everyone to join in. Others like to create buddy systems. The more the merrier! Sorting Parties a great way to get interested persons involved in Green Team, because they are energizing and dirty.
2. Crew Assignment. Assign each crew member one type of redeemable material: GLASS, PLASTIC, or ALUMINUM CANS. Give them a clear plastic bag and have them pick out only that type of material to fill their bag. There is usually lots of plastic and aluminum, and less glass, so assign more crew members to cans and plastic and fewer crew members to glass.
3. Safety. When assigning crew members, you should be handing out rubber gloves and making sure everyone is wearing shoes. THIS IS A MUST. Please assign glass only to responsible older teenagers and adults. Often, glass bottles are broken during transport across the muster field and as bags are emptied into the sorting pile.
4. Sorting commences! Once you have a few crew members at your party, they can begin dumping unsorted bags of recycling into a pile (if you are doing a Sunday morning party after a Saturday evening party was done the night before, make sure you do not dump out bags that have already been sorted - that can be really depressing!). Each crew member should take one of the bags you just emptied and begin collecting their assigned recyclable material from the pile. Continue adding unsorted recyclables to the pile, and keep an eye out for crew members who are fashionably late. Make sure you welcome them to the party and do a quick safety check for them. Try to reuse all of the plastic bags that the recycling comes in; however if a bag is really gross, it is okay to just throw it out and get a new one.
5. Keep a bag for trash. Not everyone on the muster field is observant of the "recycling only" signs on our recycling bins. You will inevitably be sorting trash out of your recycling pile. Make sure you have a bag or two ready for this. You may even want to assign a crew member to collect only trash if you are at DRAM or Westbrook - pick someone who is older, this is not a great task for the youngest folks because it often involves also dealing with broken glass.
6. Talk up Green Team and the Camp! We like to host the Sorting Party in a very visible area of the muster field. This way, our community members can see how hard we work, and they can offer their support. As people come by to see what we are doing, make sure you explain that this is the Green Team effort to raise money for scholarships to Fife and Drum Camp. Try to sort with new comers and explain all of the things they can do to help Green Team and tell them a little bit about why Camp is important to you.
7. Cleaning up: leaving it better than we found it. After all of the bags are sorted, make sure all of the left over trash is picked up and disposed of in the way the muster committee has designated. Make sure your crew gets water and a snack, and knows where the muster "shower" hose is located to wash up. There should also be sanitizer in the supply kit. While you're in the supply kit, please remember to record all volunteer names on the Green Team clipboard - this is the only way we'll know to add them to the Facebook thank you and the archives.
- Celebrate and appreciate! Remember to THANK EVERYONE WHO HELPED YOU and take a team photo. If you can snap a shot during the action, that's great too! Have fun - you're all making a difference in many ways. Thank you!
- Encourage your crew members to join a redemption run. Redemption teams can always use more help and new crew members. Please encourage everyone to see what redemption is all about by sticking around for another hour. Know who the redemption run captains are so you can send interested team members in their direction.
| how_to_sort.pdf |