SCHOOLS SHOULD BE RECYCLING MORE.

BY: TRAVIS PYLE

            Schools should start enforcing recycling.  Schools are over the world use huge amounts of paper everyday.  My school may use at least twelve times the amount of paper one school may use in one year.  Most high schools or even regular schools only have one building, but my school has at least twelve different buildings, and the paper is delivered constantly in huge amounts.

            The paper we used can be used for homework, notes, projects, letters, and so much more, and the administrators probably are not even thinking about how much of a waste it is.  That is why I think that they should begin to recycle.  Recycling helps to decrease the amount of wasted materials whether it is paper, plastic, or metal it is all wasted everyday twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week.

            When we recycle we save trees, we increase oxygen levels, save natural habitats, and allow forests to grow once more.  Each time a tree is cut, our oxygen level is reduced.  Every living thing on the Earth needs oxygen to survive, especially humans.  The worst part of is all is, we are the ones cutting them down, so when the air becomes so thin and it is hard to breathe, we can only blame ourselves.

            Each year two percent of animal habitats are lost due to deforestation.  When students or even teachers cut out pictures, graph, ect. out of paper, the edges are thrown away, and those edges could have been used as scrap paper.  Recycling can also cause good habits.  It can also make you feel good about yourself.

            Imagine an earth where you can breath in crisp, clean air and not have to worry about an airborne poison traveling through the air, causing you or your loved ones medical problems and more, and all you did was refuse to recycle.  Now, I have enough medical problems and another one might really screw up my body.  This could also cause a great amount of stress on others if this were to happen.

            As an example, when my sister and I were young, my cousin put a broken aluminum soda can in the trash can.  The next day,   I went to take the trash out, forgetting the broken can was in there.  The can had cut through the bag, and it rubbed against my sister’s leg.  About ten minutes later, we all realized that the can had cut my sister’s leg, and we had headed to the hospital to get her leg stitched.  Since the accident my sister no longer stands near the trash can when it is being emptied, or near the person empting the trash can.

            I know some people who love to recycle so much; they will go to dirty parks, parking lots, ponds and so much more just so they feel good about themselves.  In fact, when I used to go for a walk or a jog, I would bring two plastic bags with me, one for trash and one for recyclables.  My friends inspired me to do this.

            Think about something that really inspires you.  Now, take that inspiration from your passion and place it toward recycling.  The world could be so much cleaner and healthier if every person around the world would pitch in and recycle.  Just like there is a good side to everything there is also a bad side to things.  There are things that we have to consider on the schools side of this improvement.

            Schools may not be enforcing recycling because they might have to pay for separate bins, and if they do not have the money to pay for these different bins then the money will come out of the tax payer’s pockets.  Recycling could also make clean up much longer and slower, so that would not be much of a help, especially if the maintenance is in a hurry to clean up a room for the next set of students or staff.

            In my school, we have four lunch periods lined up in a row, and clean up must be fast.  So sure, using separate bins for trash and recycling will slow down the maintenance, but is it worth living in a toxic waste dump, if we do not have to?  I have enough health problems and if I got another one I might go insane.

            Schools may also have to hire someone to collect all of the recycling bins from each class in each building, and if their school is anything like my high school, they might even have to hire quite a few people to collect the recycling bins from all twelve buildings.  There is also the possibility of whether or not the students would obey to the new recycling rule; it might be hard on the students to get used to recycling at school if they do not recycle at home.

            There are ways to make recycling fun though.  Schools could make recycling a bit easier, like having their students keep track of the tree population around them, and see if the population increases.  Maybe they could see if they could get a home repair store like Lowes^® or Home Depot^® would help recycle by recycling their old or used wood scraps.

            Maybe the school could get paid for recycling so the school could allow field trips for each grade more often.  Maybe even a contest for the highest amount of recycling could be started between the grade levels, or even an agriculture club to make the school more animal friendly.  Either way recycling can improve our lives.

            Schools should recycle more often to clean up the world of tomorrow.  Schools should take action with recycling, whether they need money or not.  If they start to recycle it can make a huge difference.  Whether the students choose to obey the rule or not, recycling makes everyone feel good about themselves.  Finally whether you are healthy or not, if we all come together and form as one, we can make a difference.