San Benito High School students and staff are making the effort
to go green
– and to simultaneously earn some green for educational
programs.
San Benito High School students and staff are making the effort to go green – and to simultaneously earn some green for educational programs.
Students and teachers last month launched a can and bottle recycling program previously absent from the high school. To earn money for the life skills program – the classes for severely handicapped students – those students and their teachers have set up recycling bins around campus. Students say they would like to see even more bins available.
In the past, students in the life skills program had collected cans and bottles from the garbage bins, said Director of Student Services Karen Schroder. But the district halted that practice due to health and safety concerns.
The life skills program, therefore, had missed out on money earned by cashing in recyclables for their California Refund Value.
“We would go around recycling and use the money for class supplies because we’re only given so much money a year,” said Tania DeLeon, who teaches the program.
They would often earn around $80 a week cashing in the high school’s cans and bottles, she said.
DeLeon decided she wanted to start recycling again this year without having students and staff going through the school’s garbage. She said collecting the cans earned money for the program, but also taught her students about environmental protection.
To start the can and bottle recycling program on campus, Schroder contacted Waste Management of Hollister, and the company agreed to donate five large recycling bins to the school.
“It’s a two-pronged benefit: The money benefits the life skills students and it gets things recycled, because students have been really bad about recycling,” Schroder said.
The bins were placed around campus about a month ago, Schroder said. Still, the new recycling program is in early stages, and many students don’t know where to recycle.
“We want to make sure the kids are really aware of it and get them to really recycle,” Schroder said.
Ideally, word of mouth will increase the number of cans recycled and, consequently, earn more money for the life skills program, Schroder said. Some students, however, contend that increasing the availability of receptacles for recyclable items would help as well.
At a Student Congress meeting November 14, a student brought up a need to increase the number of places where cans and bottles could be recycled around campus.
Student Congress President Kayla Antoniono said it’s important that students have the option to recycle, especially because of the environmental impact from garbage.
“Right now, I think students just throw (recyclables) into the trash – they don’t think twice about it,” Antoniono said. “I think if there were bins around, people would use the bins.”
Antoniono said although the available bins are helpful, more are needed so students wouldn’t have to think twice about tossing their soda cans into a recycling bin. She hopes the campus soon will look more like downtown Hollister in that respect – everywhere there is a garbage receptacle, there is also one for recycling.
“I think that eventually there will be more bins available. The Student Congress is working on getting that right now,” she said.
The congress is seeking funds from the school to get more recycling bins to have throughout the campus, Antoniono said.
