Have you ever stayed after school one day and happened to notice a sweet, old man going through the garbage to find recyclables? Paul Christiansen is an 84-year-old man who has been coming to Hoover everyday afterschool for the past 10 years to look for bottles and cans he can recycle.
“I decided I needed to get out and get some fresh air,” Christiansen said. “This is my exercise and I just combined it with recycling to help the environment.”
While recycling the bottles and cans does not make much money for him, he still enjoys it because money is not the reason he recycles.
Christiansen’s four children graduated from Hoover years ago. His oldest daughter, Nancy, was the valedictorian of her class; his son, Russel, was on the water polo team, and his youngest daughter, Greta, was the catcher on the softball team.
After Christiansen finishes his recycling, he takes all that he has collected down to the City of Glendale on Chevy Chase.
