Recycling program organizers ask students to avoid putting trash in recycling bins

Ava Dinverno

Sophomore Nikki Hansen collects recycling and puts it in a recycling bin labeled “No Trash … Recycling Only Please.” Students and teachers involved in the recycling program request that teachers set their recycling bins outside their classrooms before eighth period every Friday. “We don’t have time to sort through garbage,” science teacher and faculty helper Larry Roskens said. “We’ve got to just pick it up and go.”

Haley Medeiros, Reporter
March 27, 2019

The recycling program continues to reduce, reuse and recycle in its second year at the high school.

However, teachers and students involved in the program said they find more trash in the recycling bins than paper or plastic.

“The No. 1 thing is no food waste,” engineering teacher Donald Berliner said in an email to the staff. “No. 2 is no styrofoam cups, especially if they still have coffee in them.”

Science teacher Larry Roskens, who helps with the effort, said teachers should set their recycling bins outside their classrooms before eighth period on Fridays.

“We don’t have time to sort through garbage,” Roskens said. “We’ve got to just pick it up and go.”

A few recyclable items include cardboard, plastic bottles and cans.

“Recycling allows us to reuse materials that normally would be thrown in landfills,” senior Kelsi Ferguson said. “We should bag or trash properly and have bins for each type of recycling.”