Students find 26% of trash to be recyclable

Northwestern Jr./Sr. High School this week provided students with both education and confirmation.

Tony Frabotta, a seventh-grade science teacher at the school, conducted a garbage audit with his class on Tuesday. They discovered what he had suspected, that 26 percent of the cafeteria trash was recyclable and belonged in the recycling bins rather than the garbage.

Since it was based on just one day, Frabotta said the class would have to do more samples to be sure about the percent of recyclable material in the garbage. But it did confirm that the school was not recycling as well as it could be in the cafeteria.

To solve the problem, the school needs to install larger, more visible bins in the cafeteria, Frabotta said.

“Unless recycling is easy, most people won’t do it,” he said. “So we need to make it easier.”

The garbage audit’s purpose was to determine if the school’s new recycling program was effective, Frabotta said. Northwestern recently switched to the Rumpke single stream recycling system, he said. With this system, all recyclable materials are thrown into one bin at the school and then taken to the company’s facility and sorted there.

Frabotta did say the school is doing a fairly good job of recycling in some areas, collecting a good amount of paper, plastic bottles and aluminum cans, especially in the classrooms.

“I think we’re doing a good job in class,” he said, “but it’s the cafeteria that we need to focus on.”