by Natalie Jones

On Friday, November 8th, Ms. Howe’s Environmental Science classes completed a plastic inventory audit of our school. The classes went to different departments and took their trash cans and recycling bins and sorted through both.The classes were looking for differences in plastic in trash cans versus recycling bins. They learned that Memorial is not the best at recycling! In one class period, the students found 848 plastic items in the trash bins and 384 plastic items in the recycling bins. They also found a high amount of cans in the recycling bins. This was just from one department from the school! There was a considerably higher amount of plastic in the trash bins! 

Recycling correctly is so important here at Memorial and in our daily lives because plastic is a growing problem that is overtaking the world. Ms. Howe often asks her class, “Did you know that your plastic water bottle will still be here when your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren will be around?” When using a plastic water bottle, it is easy to throw it in the trash and forget about it, but that water bottle will be in the world for generations to come. Plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces until it is miniscule. These tiny pieces of plastic cause problems for our environment and our society. For example, the plastic water bottle that you threw away and didn’t think about, could end up traveling through a river that connects to the ocean. Once in the ocean, the plastic will break down into smaller pieces. A sea turtle could eat the plastic mistaking it for food or a fish could ingest the plastic. By working up the food chain, humans could then be ingesting the microplastics when they eat fish. The plastic water bottle being thrown away has a cascading effect that you might not think of. 

By recycling correctly we can help to minimize the problems that plastic brings to our society. When recycling your bottles make sure to dump out the liquids and keep the caps on. Also, do not recycle straws. Paper bags are recyclable as long as there is no food or grease on them. You cannot recycle plastic bags, styrofoam, black plastic, or milk cartons. Often times, on the bottom of products, there is a number in the middle of the recycling symbol. If the number is 1, 2, or 5, you can recycle that product at Memorial! It is so important to recycle to improve future generations’ lives and their outlook on us! We do not want future generations to resent us because of the choices we made regarding our plastic use!