Be Green member Jenna Margarites, left, collects recycling pledges from junior Casey Pease and senior Jessica Lashtur, organizer of the recycling challenge between the classes. (Photo submitted)
HUNTINGTON – Gateway students pledged to recycle on November 15, America Recycles Day. High school students also earned ‘spirit points’ by recycling during lunch and wearing green that Friday. National organizers of America Recycles Day report that the American recycling rate has increased each year for the past 30 years, and is currently at 34.7 percent.
The event was organized by Be Green, Gateway’s student recycling program. During lunch, students signed pledges that read, “I pledge to learn about recycling options in my community. I will find out what materials are collected by recycling in my community at americarecyclesday.org. I pledge to reduce my personal waste by recycling. In the next month, I will recycle one new type of material.” Students were encouraged to name the new material that they pledged to recycle.
Be Green also hosted this year’s “Recycling Challenge” – a friendly competition between the freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors during lunch. A set of recycling bins was set up for each class, and students were encouraged to correctly recycle items from their school lunch. Senior Jessica Lashtur was the mastermind behind using the drive for spirit points as a way to teach students about recycling.
Lashtur helped get the word out through posters in the school and cafeteria, and talking with and texting friends. “It’s a big challenge to get people to realize how important it is to recycle,” Lashtur said. “That’s probably the hardest part.”
“A major item we see is the milk cartons,” added the club’s advisor, Lyn Avery. “We see the plastic forks and spoons—which are not recyclable—go into the recycle bin, while the milk cartons (which ARE recyclable) end up in the trash.” Avery said that her students made posters pointing out the common items that can be recycled in the lunchroom, and were on hand to advise their peers as they cleared their tables. The class that recycled the most items earned additional spirit points for the day.
Be Green is the high school’s recycling club. Members sign onto a regular schedule of collecting materials from the recycling bins located in classrooms and offices throughout the school, and emptying them in the recycling dumpster outdoors. Last year the group earned an “Environmental Eagles” designation by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The certificate recognized the actions taken by the group for their “outstanding efforts to increase recycling and pollution prevention in your school and community.”
For Lashtur and other Be Green members, it will all be worth the effort if they increase recycling at the school.
“I hope it’s a success,” she said as lunch began. “I hope to get people recycling more.”
For the day, the program was a tremendous success, with 194 students in grades 5-12 taking the pledge. The recycling challenge at the high school was also a huge success, with three of the rolling recycling cards filled to capacity with materials that would have been thrown in the trash. “We only threw away ONE trash bag full of non-recyclable trash today,” reported Avery at days’ end. “That’s monumental!”
The spirit point win was a tie between the juniors and seniors, with sophomores coming in 2nd and freshmen 3rd. Spirit points are earned throughout the year at Gateway, as each grade competes for the coveted “Spirit Trophy”, which is awarded at the end of each school year.
