If you walk through St. Dominic High School, you will find two bins dedicated to recycling in every classroom. Not only that, but water bottle-friendly dispensers live at almost every water fountain. This may give us the appearance of an eco-friendly school; however, that is not always the case.

One of those bins in the classroom is labelled “Bottles and Cans” for recycling ease. However, by the end of the day, students turn illiterate and throw their recyclables in the wrong can.

It is ironic to see students try to shoot free throws with their bottles or wadded up paper. They assume making it into any can is a score, when it is not. When everything is thrown into the trash, it is transferred to landfills, further polluting our beautiful planet when it could’ve easily been created into something new.

“It saddens me deeply to know that we could be doing a much better job at recycling here at St. Dominic High School,” said Bernie Mennemeier, a janitor here at school.

Throwing recyclables into the wrong can also hinders maintenance staff at school. When the staff collects the recycling, they have the gross job of picking through sticky bottles and cans in order to make sure the recyclables are thrown into the appropriate dumpster.

“[Another way] to fix this issue is if teachers keep their bins in one area. Then, kids will know what goes into which bin instead of getting lazy and throwing it into the nearest one,” said Mennemeier.

Students should be more diligent about where their waste is going. If students took a few extra moments to ensure plastics, glass, paper or cardboard made it into their assigned bin, it could save our planet by creating biodegradable products. Are you up for the challenge of saving our planet?