The group of 20 fifth and sixth graders huddled near the large cardboard containers and craned their necks to get a peek at what was inside. What they saw was plastic milk jugs, phone books, television monitors and shredded paper.

The grade-schoolers from Covenant Christian School in Carbondale toured the Southern Recycling Center on Chestnut Street as part of “America Recycles Day” Tuesday.

Tiffany Heil, executive director of Keep Carbondale Beautiful, a non-profit organization that promotes control of litter, community beautification and recycling, coordinated the tour that led the children through the recycling process and taught them about the importance of recycling.

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Heil said she wanted the students to experience the facility and see what happens to the materials they recycle at school.

“They’re little adults, they want to see why they have to recycle,” Heil said. “It shows kids the results of their efforts.”

Recycling center floor supervisor J.B. Behounek, who gives tours about six times a year, said he wants the kids to see that whatever comes through the center’s doors will somehow come back as something else.

As Behounek took the group, along with their science teacher, Joann Fleming, around the center, he stopped at each sorting crate and discussed how the items might “come back later.”

He reached into the tin-labeled crate and pulled out a large can that once contained tomato paste.

“This will be back in the grocery store in two weeks, cleverly disguised as a can of green beans,” he told the students as they crowded closer to look in the crate themselves.

Farther down the line was a large crate of plastic bags, which Behounek said are crucial to the environment and the economy to recycle.

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Plastic, whether in the form of a bag, bottle, CD or DVD, is manufactured from petroleum.

“Eighty thousand pounds of recycle plastic bags saves about 800 gallons of petroleum,” Behounek said.

Fleming said she wanted her science class to tour the center because the school is particularly focused on recycling on the classroom, and she wanted to instill in her students that recycling could take place at home too.

“I try to make them very conscientious because it’s part of being a citizen,” she said during the tour. “We teach character, and part of character is being a good citizen. It’s logical to teach kids how to recycle.”

Fifth-grader Samuel Leftwich said he thought the process was “kind of cool.”

“It’s real interesting that you can save a bunch of trees just by recycling a few pieces of paper,” he said.

Behounek said the center goes through about 70 tons of plastic, 250 tons of cardboard and 250 tons of newspapers each month, a number that has steadily increased during his 11 years at the center, he said.

“I’ve seen a massive increase in recycling families,” he said just before the tour. “People today are more consciousness about what can be recycled, and they seem to really enjoy bringing it in.”

Reporter Haley Murray can be reached at [email protected]