Most of us have been there at least once. You are eating in a classroom and get up to throw away your trash, and you go to the place where the garbage can should be… near the door. When you get there, there is no trash bin, but only a blue recycling bin. The recycle bin looks like a garbage, because there is already trash in it. You are confused, and look around to find a more suitable bin. However, you don’t find it, and decide to throw away your trash in the blue recycling bin. Nothing looks out of place, because everyone does it.

This is a common situation, and many students are faced with it. Why is this an issue? This seems like a problem with a simple solution, just put the garbage can in the same spot as the bottle and paper recycling bins, to avoid confusion. After doing some digging, I have found that this issue goes deeper than what’s on the surface. As it turns out, our school does not recycle as we would think.

““As we talked about in class, our school does not actually recycle bottles and cans.””

This very discussion came up in my social studies class. We were talking about the climate protest that took place awhile ago. While most of us thought it was a good thing that the school approved of the protest, some of us didn’t. However, we all agreed that whatever stance we took on the protest, the school does not do enough to make a positive environmental impact. This, coupled with the recycling/garbage issue is something worth talking about.

Clear instructions and signage for sorting our trash is needed

As we talked about in class, our school does not actually recycle bottles and cans. Student volunteers are required to pick up the slack and do it themselves! This seems contradictory with the school’s stance on the protest. If they were to support the protest, why don’t they do more themselves to help the environment, or at least institute a universal recycling system?

What’s needed to fix the recycling/garbage issue is a combination of a few solutions. Firstly, clear and universal signage is required, so we understand what goes where. There are too many times when people mix up bins, which leads to confusion. Secondly, garbage and recycling all need to be kept in the same place in the classroom, so it doesn’t present any issues to students trying to figure out which bin to put their trash in. Thirdly, our school desperately needs a school run recycling program (that is NOT run on student volunteers). It is unacceptable that our students have to take time out of their day to do something as simple and mundane as bottle recycling, which should be the responsibility of the school!

We need a major overhaul of our garbage and recycling systems, with more clear signage and better sorting instructions. If the school wants to support their students in saving the environment, it should start with recycling.