 A group of dedicated students from the Arlington High School SAVE club (Students Against Violations of the Environment) has successfully expanded its bottles-and-cans recycling program at the high school.
The AHS environmental group, led by teacher adviser Nigel Kraus, is in charge of collecting the recyclable bottles and cans at the school. According to the club’s secretary, Alex Long, “We recycle almost 1,000 bottles a week,” meaning tens of thousands are recycled every year.
The students also earn community service credit for recycling, as 40 hours of community service is required to graduate.
Every week, a handful of student volunteers go on a variety of routes throughout the school to empty the full recycle bins. The bottles from these bins are combined into large plastic bags, which are then brought over to a ramp to be picked up for sorting and recycling.
Each volunteer is assigned a certain section of the building, and most work in pairs to make the workload easier.
“We have a few core recyclers who dedicate about half an hour a week to empty the bins in different parts of the school," Long said.
In the past five years, the recycling program has expanded significantly. Four years ago, many classrooms did not have bottles and cans recycling bins. Now almost every classroom has one.
Because of the schedule system, the program is able to run fairly smoothly. Nearly 1,000 cans are recycled each week, up from a few hundred per week only a few years ago.
Yet the club knows it still has work to do, as sometimes bottles do not end up in the recycle bins. However, the club is still inspired.
“This year we have gotten many of our members interested in recycling,” Long said.
The number of plastic bottles used in the cafeteria necessitates the recycling program.
The plastic milk bottles are recyclable, as are the popular sports-drink bottles sold in vending machines. The club has worked to help increase awareness by posting colorful signs throughout the cafeteria, saying that milk bottles are recyclable.
“It is also heartening to see students placing their bottles in the proper bins instead of the trash cans after lunch,” Long added.
So what’s next for the SAVE club? The students now want to tackle paper recycling. Members hope it will turn out to be as successful as their current project.
The writer is a senior at Arlington High School.
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