Since it was based on just one day, Frabotta said the class would have to do more samples to be sure about the percent of recyclable material in the garbage. But it did confirm that the school was not recycling as well as it could be in the cafeteria.
To solve the problem, the school needs to install larger, more visible bins in the cafeteria, Frabotta said.
“Unless recycling is easy, most people won’t do it,” he said. “So we need to make it easier.”
The garbage audit’s purpose was to determine if the school’s new recycling program was effective, Frabotta said. Northwestern recently switched to the Rumpke single stream recycling system, he said. With this system, all recyclable materials are thrown into one bin at the school and then taken to the company’s facility and sorted there.
Frabotta did say the school is doing a fairly good job of recycling in some areas, collecting a good amount of paper, plastic bottles and aluminum cans, especially in the classrooms.
“I think we’re doing a good job in class,” he said, “but it’s the cafeteria that we need to focus on.”
The school put the Rumpke recycling system into place just in the last month, said Lori Swafford, the school’s principal. Before, Northwestern had recycling bins outside, but that recycling company went out of business and stopped emptying the bins.
“So we’re still working out the bugs,” she said.
The students had mixed reactions on digging through the trash, Frabotta said. But he added that it was important for them to see the trash the school produced.
“It’s out of sight, out of mind; but once you see it, you think that a lot of the things that we throw away could be recycled or composted,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be buried in a landfill but could be used for something else.”
The school could also start a composting program for the kitchen waste and then use the compost on school grounds, Frabotta said. But that’s a goal for the future. The first goal, he said, is to tackle the recycling.
“I think it’s important that people realize that recycling is just one step of many that we really need to do as a society to reduce pressures on the environment and undo damage that we’re doing on our environment,” he said. “So it’s just one step, but it’s an important step.”
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