When thinking of recycling, you many probably think of just putting a few plastic items in the binrecycling and thinking nothing of it. That is definitely not the case when it comes to GHS. Recycling can be one of the more difficult things to maintain, as the student population continues to grow.school grows with students.
Gretna Green Team (GGT) is a club at GHS that helps with recycling and keeping the school clean. Their goals are to take action in our community and spread awareness on the effect of recycling.
“We wanted to try and expand into plastic recycling because that’s kinda the big, consumable in the building,” said sScience instructorTeacher Mr. Kyle Slusher said.
They also do fun and helpful events such as tye dying shirts and campus cleanups to learn more about the club. Mr. Slusher has a strong opinion on keeping GHS a healthy and clean environment, as well as within the learning environment of his students. He keeps several bins in his classroom for paper, plastic, aluminum and landfill, so his students can use that opportunity to see the importance of recycling. He also takes part in the Gretna Green Team club frequently.
“The more people that cleanup, the more people that just participate in recycling and see how many wakes we actually generate,” Mr. Slusher said.. I think that’s what really can keep us from, you know, maybe making more consumer waste.,” said Slusher.
Other factors of recycling can really help improve the school itself. Advertising recycling around the school can definitely help. Putting up posters, more recycling bins in classrooms around the school, encouraging students toencourage bringing reusable items, or donating recycled materials for art projects in the art classrooms. Students and staff can also work on recycling metal cans since there are multiple vending machines that have canned drinks around the school.
“GGT has opened the eyes of some of our administrators about the lack of recycling,” said Kiera Morgan senior Kiera Morgan said. “All of these examples can help save money for the school as well.”
Even something everyday and common can pose recycling and reuse issues. Food thrown away from the GHS lunchroom ends up in the landfill. Common products like bottled soft drinks and water are another challenge
Lunch in GHS has many problems as of now, and helping to solve this problem can take longer than you’d think, as well as maintaining it.
The food from the lunchroom can go into landfills to help get rid of the waste. Students lack the education on recycling and how it can be good for the community, seeing how big the problem is.
“We started aluminum recycling, but teachers still ask us if we will ever start plastic recycling. We wish we could, but GGT does not have the numbers or resources to recycle plastic without administrator support.” Morgan said said Kiera Morgan.
Even with the challenges, recycling is an issue that seems here to stay at GHS.