Written by Sohi Kang, Staff Writer
Between paper handouts in class and food waste during lunchtime, it’s easy to produce substantial amounts of waste at school. As the new school year kicks off, Indian Trail High School & Academy hopes to head in a greener direction to minimize some of this waste.
Sheri Reget, a special education teacher, leads the recycling program at Indian Trail. Being the largest high school in the state, she was surprised by the lack of recycling at the school.
Currently, the students in her vocational education department work two to three days a week to collect and dispose of marked cardboard bins for paper. She hopes to extend the recycling collection program to the entire school, starting with the purchase of six large blue bins to be used in the lunchroom for plastic and bottles. She is also interested in partnering with others to improve the school recycling program.
“We’d love to partner with other departments, other clubs… we’d love partnering with other students,” Reget said. There are many bene ts to recycling, such as collecting aluminum which can be sold for money. It reduces the amount of trash sent to land fills, prevents pollution, and conserves natural resources such as timber. However, problems arise when students and teachers alike put non-recyclables into the school’s blue recycling containers. When waste is found in the bins, custodians are forced to throw the whole load into the garbage.
Daniel Uelmen, IT’s new head custodian, has also expressed the need for additional support for the recycling program.
“It is helpful if we can get some kids to help us…(take) the bags of recyclables out to wherever it needs to go,” Uelmen said.
Other staff members, such as IT’s new Principal Scott Kennow, have expressed an interest in improving the recycling program. After adding the six large blue bins in the lunchrooms, he aims to implement this throughout the whole school. Kennow says he hopes to provide awareness in the classroom about taking care of the environment, emphasizing the need to put waste into the correct containers.
“Recycling is just a small part, but it can have a significant impact on our environment. Our kids are really caring people, and they’re going to want to help with that,” Kennow said.