Cleaning out my desk drawers and a filing cabinet is the proverbial “walk down memory lane.” I know myself, so it’s not hard for me to believe the stuff I’m coming across but I know the folks that aren’t apt to hold onto things would be saying, “Sharon really…why did you keep this?”

Well, because some of it is special to me, e.g. a “Green Christmas” wall hanging from my niece. Some of it is memorabilia, e.g. a schedule of events for the 13th annual (1996) Minnesota Solid Waste Conference signed by Dennis Weaver (aka Chester of “Gunsmoke”) who I met at the conference; a can koozie from B-107 KBJJ, a radio station no longer here in Marshall. We have educational resources — an EDF newsletter circa 1991 that I gleaned waste reduction information from when I first started this journey into the wonderful world of recycling, numerous other interesting/informational paper resources, and some environmental/recycling VHS tapes. I’ve got photographs of past coworkers and a couple older ones of a present coworker who’s hardly aged at all over the past 25+ years…kind of like me. (Hey, I heard that.) There are a couple of cassette tapes of some of my radio ads “brought to life” by the talented radio deejays in town. I still chuckle when I think of the character voices they did for me…the Recycling Ranger, Light-fingered Louie, the cat-burglars, Ole and Lena, and numerous others. It’s too bad you can’t see some of the works of art that fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students created for the environmental calendar contests held in past years. There are some talented/imaginative young folks out there for sure.

How about taking a quiz…I’ve got a “TALKING TRASH, Everything you Need to Know About Garbage, from ROT to RECYCLING” deck of cards. Or, we could browse through “RUBBISH!,” a 1989 publication by William L. Rathje, an archaeologist who did “landfill digs,” to get some insight on what happens/doesn’t happen to the garbage within. I know, let’s take a look at a publication and find out when ivory was replaced with celluloid to make billiard balls, which was a good thing as hundreds, if not thousands, of elephants were gunned down daily just for their tusks back then to make the pool balls. So sad! You’d also read about how cellophane, Saran Wrap, Silly Putty, vinyl and Velcro were “born.”

Wow, I’m out of space and you just got a hint of what is being unearthed within these cubicle walls. OK, I heard that sigh of relief. I do understand though.