Cardboard Starbucks cups, recycled phone cases, electric cars, and the list goes on. In recent years, there have been many pushes to reduce the carbon footprint led by big companies and individual activists. Although Redwood boasts an eco-action club and has worked with ZeroWaste Marin, there are still many places where Redwood is lacking in efforts to help the environment. One major issue is the lack of compost and recycling bins. 

Very few classrooms actually have recycling and compost bins. There are also no recycling or composting bins by lunch tables, or other common places to eat. This causes compost and recyclables to be thrown in the trash without the opportunity to go in the correct bin. 

A study done by Oklahoma State University found that every student with a disposable lunch, or a lunch that is meant to be eaten and then discarded, throws away 67 pounds of waste during the school year.

Hundreds of students get lunch from the lunch line every day, and there are even more who bring disposable lunches from home. This increases with the addition of  disposable breakfast options which many students eat in addition to lunch. This means that Redwood students throw away tens of thousands of pounds of food related waste each year.

While there are compost and recycling bins on campus, they are scarce and not placed near common eating areas such as the parking lots, amphitheater or lunch tables. In addition to this, there are also no compost or recycling bins in the hallways, another place many students eat lunch.

Many students throw their recyclables into the far more accessible trash cans. Most high schoolers aren’t going to go out of their way to walk across campus to find the correct bin for their waste. This is why it’s important to make the process of composting and recycling more convenient.

  Most items in the cafeteria are held in a cardboard or plastic box that can be recycled, and the food itself can be composted meaning that waste from lunch should not add greatly to Redwood’s carbon footprint. However, most of it likely ends up in the trash.

Another key piece of this problem relates to the amount of paper given out during school. This paper could all be recycled but is likely thrown away because of the lack of recycling bins in class and in hallways.

Many classes, especially math, give out worksheets or pieces of paper that are meant to be discarded later. This leads to thousands of pieces of paper being discarded every year because it is not disposed of properly. If the paper was recycled then it wouldn’t be a problem, it can be made into cardboard or newspapers. 

A key challenge is that it’s not in custodians contract to take out compost or recycling. In order for teachers to have compost or recycling bins in their class, they must take out the bins themselves. The same issue applies to bins placed outside around campus, if no one can actually take the waste away, it’s not possible to have compost or recycling bins. 

It is no secret that most people aren’t perfect at sorting their trash into the correct bins, however, right now, students aren’t being given the opportunity. This is unfair to the environment and therefore to every student who will continue to live with the negative effects of global warming.

 Redwood needs to add recycling and compost bins in every class, as well as throughout campus. This is a change that we as a school need to make to help mitigate climate change.

The reality of climate change might be frightening, but simply acknowledging it won’t cause change. Instead of complaining about global warming, let’s take action and find a way to add more compost and recycling bins throughout campus.