Recycling was a common practice at our school, but that is no longer the case.After the recycling bins were removed from the classrooms, and the green team club was discontinued, people were left wondering why such a strong initiative was abandoned.
Mrs. Boila was formerly involved with the Green Team Club. She explains how recycling is important to reduce the number of resources that are needed to make new products and decreases the amount of space taken up in landfills. Mrs. Boila thinks that recycling at our school could encourage students to build life-long habits, making them more aware or willing to take care of the environment as adults. If recycling bins were provided by our school, Mrs. Boila thinks students would participate. She said, “Many probably already recycle at home. Separating recyclable materials from trash here at school would be easy to incorporate into the daily routine.”
Dr. Hale, our high school Biology teacher, thinks recycling is important for our environment because “it helps people to minimize their impact on the environment and make sure that we keep as many resources available for the future as possible.” He believes that the lack of recycling impacts both our environment and school community. The paper that isn’t recycled ends up in landfills, which forces us to start over by using new trees to make more materials. Dr. Hale thinks the biggest challenge in bringing recycling back to our school is the logistical problems, like not having enough storage space to hold all the collected waste until it can be picked up.
Carina Nofli, a former member of the Green Team, believes that recycling is important stating, “It helps the environment and ensures that the product won’t go to waste or harm any animals.” Carina feels that our school didn’t have to get rid of the recycling program because it could inspire other schools to implement recycling if they don’t have it already and educate our students on the importance of recycling.
Kaylee Brenner, a former member of the Green Team, encourages people to recycle. Kaylee explains, “I think that if students were properly educated on how to recycle, they would participate.” She believes that if our school had recycling bins around it would give students the option to properly dispose of their plastic or other materials. Kaylee feels that the lack of recycling is greatly impacting our school and community.
Our custodian Brenda gave input about the recycling program. Brenda said that not having recycling affects the amount of waste our school produces. She said, “Without separating the types of waste, it ends up producing a lot of waste that could be recycled.” She exclaimed that it is important to be able to separate recycling materials. Brenda believes that this is important because it makes our environment a happier place to live.
The absence of recycling at our school sparks concerns amongst the students and community. The benefits of recycling, such as reducing landfill waste and promoting lifelong habits, have been well noted. Reviving the recycling program at our school would not only benefit our planet and environment but also inspire others to take action.
