NELSONVILLE – In elementary school, Earth Day teacher teaches their students about the three principles of maintaining a healthy environment. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. And at Tri-County Career Center the Food and Hospitality Support Services program is instilling these principles into the school’s waste disposal procedures.
Last year, Tri-County received a grant that has led to an increase in recycling efforts in and around the school.
With a partnership with Rural Action, an organization focused on the safety and health of the environment, the Hospitality program has improved their methods of recycling and have decreased the amount of recyclable materials in waste bins.
Last year after a waste assessment, 23% of garbage in the bins were not recyclable. This year, it’s 3.9%.
Rural Action told the school that the results reflected that Tri-County students are familiar with recycling concepts and what belongs in bins.
However, this exponential change didn’t happen overnight, it took a group effort. Major improvements needed to be made to the way the school was dealing with its recycling.
“It takes continuous education to improve,” said Lisa Roback, the instructor of the Hospitality program.
To educate the students and staff of the school, the program put out new signs and posts on the TV screens around the campus, as well as installed 19 new bins with labeled sides to tell students which trash goes where.
“Acknowledgement and encouragement of recycling begins in the lab,” Roback said.
The kitchen has also changed the way they dispose of its trash after a new bin was installed, which they fill four days out of the week.
Every Friday, the students of the Hospitality program will empty the bins and make sure that the garbage being collected through Athens-Hocking Recycling Center is 100% recyclable.
There are some issues when undertaking such an ordeal as the one Roback and the Hospitality program have, certain students who don’t pay attention to where they dispose of their trash or leave their bottles half empty. There is also the issue of certain recycling centers only taking certain types of plastic, meaning that not all plastic is exactly recyclable.
But Roback is grateful that everyone has embraced this and it is her goal to take the next step and reduce the use of single-use plastics and reduce the schools overall footprint. As should it be the goal of every student and staff member as well.
While it isn’t perfect just yet, Roback and the Hospitality program will continue to work to create a cleaner and better environment for future generations.
“It isn’t perfect, but what we’re doing here is absolutely amazing,” said Roback.
Demetrius Newlun is a student journalist with Tri-County Career Center and High School’s New Media+ program. This article originally appeared on The 360, a publication of the New Media+ program.
