By: Malena Esposito

Reduce, reuse, recycle; that concept we’ve grown up with, but why do we do it? Recycling benefits us by creating jobs, saving energy, conserving natural resources, and reducing pollution. In fact, recycling programs are cheaper than operating a waste collection, so there’s little excuse to not participate in this earth-saving activity.

There are several ways to recycle — whether at home or out in public. Examples include buying eco-friendly school supplies, clothing and accessories. Plastic bags, as well as plastic bottles and cardboard boxes, can also be reused or recycled. Call2Recycle is a battery and cellphone recycling program that has collection centers in stores such as Home Depot and Staples. A small — but still significant– way to recycle is through the recycling bins at our school.

Feed the Bin is a recycling program for schools funded through Wake County. Every week, Heritage’ OCS students go around to all the classrooms for Feed the Bin. They empty the green paper recycling bins into a larger black bin. But how many times do you see someone with a plastic water or Gatorade bottle with nowhere to put it? That’s because the green recycling bins are only for paper, not plastic. So, why don’t we have another bin for plastics? I presented this question to Mrs. Hinds and the answer I received was not what I expected.

“It’s no reason of our own; we just need someone to own it, like a club.” she said. “Someone who will take responsibility for going around, emptying the baskets, and making sure they are picked up. But nobody has stepped up to say, ‘we want to do recycling!’” I proceeded to ask her how it would work if a group were up for the task. “We wouldn’t even have to fund it. Just like they do with the green bins, Wake County has a program that provides them for us.”

So, who wants to recycle? Recycling is an effective way for our school and community to help out the environment. The more people that recycle, the cheaper it gets. Recycling saves us money, creates jobs, and helps us build a strong economy. Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of this amazing opportunity to help the earth?

Any clubs that are interested in running a plastic recycling program at Heritage should email us at theheritageherald@gmail.com