The various bins around Pioneer seem to serve one purpose for students: to throw away anything and everything. Although many Pioneer students attended the climate walkout and voiced support for addressing climate change, smarter, greener improvements have yet to take place in school. Our top priority should be to place recycling bins in every classroom.

Teachers’ trash cans are often filled with materials ideal for recycling. These items include plastic, glass, cardboard, and even the styrofoam containers that school lunch is served in. Although some teachers appear to have a separate bin for recycling, both bins are disposed of as trash by the custodians, often because students don’t know what should go in each can. These harmful materials that could be reused are being thrown away and burned, adding to carbon emissions. Action must be taken by AAPS to provide recycling bins for every class and ensure that these materials are being recycled. Teachers should be asked to inform students about what to recycle and what to throw away so the proper materials go in the proper bins. These necessary changes will create a greener environment at Pioneer and contribute to the reduction of the effects of climate change.

 Some argue that the cost of the bins for every classroom is expensive and unnecessary. The amount of uninformed students at our school lead some to believe that the new bins will be ignored and the problem will continue. This shows an incredible lack of faith in our students. The main contributor to students not recycling is the absence of the bins themselves. This issue can be avoided by posting signs by each bin informing students about proper ways to manage waste. Students would learn what to recycle and the bins would contain materials that are specific to each one. Also, the cost of the bins should not be a significant factor for the use of recycling bins. The effects of climate change are all around us, and we need to play our part in reducing the harmful effects, even if it means spending a few extra dollars. 

Efforts to recycle at Pioneer often go unnoticed by the majority of the student body. Countless kids mindlessly throw away anything they consider to be garbage into the trash bins around the school. With improved awareness of recycling, Pioneer can play its part in the fight against the effects of climate change.