When you finish drinking a kickstart or milk carton from lunch or breakfast, do you throw it in the recyclables or the garbage? Many students and even some teachers do not believe our school recycles, but this isn’t true. After an interview, two janitors proved that Oshkosh North does their best to recycle, and the two bins in every classroom are never combined. All the recyclables are dumped into two large dumpsters outside, and the trash is put into a separate dumpster. Any rumors about our school not caring about recycling or combining waste with recyclables are just that, rumors. The biggest problem with our recycling system starts at the source, the fact that some students really don’t care about recycling and throw their trash away in those blue bins that say “cans only.” The janitors explained that the school has tried to put recycling cans in the hallways or the gym during basketball games, but food always seems to end up in it. We need to make sure as students, parents, or staff that food does not end up in the separate bins made for recycling. These actions do not go unnoticed by students, Andy Vankeuren, Junior, has noticed that students tend to mix trash and recyclable waste together, “I feel like they [Oshkosh North] try their best but the kids don’t care about recycling bins and garbage bins, they see one bin and throw everything in them.” Ending this issue all comes back to us, the people that do not take an extra second to separate the plastics and the leftover food. The janitors struggle with this as well, from Doug Nimke,

“Sporting events in the field house is our biggest challenge because everyone is in a hurry and busy watching the game or the match.”

Dumping all garbage in one bin is like mixing your light and dark laundry, it should be avoided at all costs. Though you might be on the edge of your seat in anticipation, waiting to see who will score the last few points before the buzzer, make sure you show Spartan PRIDE and put your trash in the right bins. To keep North an efficient and eco-friendly environment, take an extra minute out of your day to put your trash where it belongs.
   Mrs. Last has reached out to our staff and informed them about an opportunity to start up a recycling club within the school. When interviewed Last elaborated on what the project would entail,  

“Winnebago Recycling wants to work with us on a project to use old milk cartons and yogurt containers to use to make paper towels.”

The idea for the milk cartons would be to empty them into a bucket and place the empty cartons into a separate container for the Winnebago Recycling group. The best way to start and keep environmental friendly habits is to start from the bottom and build up. If you are interested in following the green in Spartan Pride, find an advisor willing to run our recycling club at our school and take a step into keeping us efficient.
   Though the rumors have circled the school for years that we “don’t recycle,” are proven to be untrue. Oshkosh North does the best that they can to make sure the proper waste materials end up in the right place. If you are a student and you feel as though recycling is an essential process in keeping our earth clean, please make sure you take an extra few seconds out of your day to separate your trash into the right places. Any students interested in assembling a recycling club within the school, find a small group of people, an advisor and contact Mrs. Last for more information about bringing this into our school!