Now that we’re in the 21st century, we know that recycling and reusing should not be a “trend,” but a necessity. Recycling is something that we all have to come together and do for the better of our community but also our future. We have experienced so many natural disasters in the past two years and one of the main reasons for this is because we are constantly taking things from mother nature. However, many don’t take care of our earth and its resources.

At school, no matter what building or part of the parking lot you are at, you have access to a recycling bin. In the Nesbitt and science building, there is a recycling bin at every corner where you are able to throw away bottles in one bag or paper in another. When students do this, it is their contribution to the planet. A question that has been rising among our school is where exactly is the recycling going? Are they taking it to the right place or is everything being thrown to the trash?

“I think recycling is something good not only for the community, but also for our future and the future of our kids.” – Bridget Banda

I took it upon myself to see what actually happens with our recycled items. I wanted to find out if any students actually recycled. A lot of students did and some did not.

“I sometimes recycle when I remember or sometimes after parties we keep the cans and recycle those with my family,” said Bridget Banda, a student at the University of North Georgia.

After waiting around for many hours for the trash to be thrown away, I was finally able to catch the custodian throwing out the trash. I waited for the recycling bin to be touched and when it was, to my surprise, they put the recycling trash with the regular trash. I asked the custodian to explain their nightly routine and how the trash is disposed.

“I have always had the same routine. No one has ever told me to do it differently,” said an anonymous custodian. “I have seen some of my co-workers take out the trash and separate it, but I think it only gets that far. I think the trash truck takes everything together.”

I decided not to jump to conclusions on this topic so I spoke to another custodian the following day at a different building. 

“I usually put all the bags together. I try to separate them, but sometimes the kids don’t put their trash in the right bin and all the recycle bins have trash in them so that makes everything else non-recyclable,” said another anonymous custodian.

The school is looking forward to making some changes to fix this problem but everything has to start from somewhere small.

Ken Crowe the assistant vice president for facilities at UNG is hoping to bring in a new system to the school.

“I am looking into a few things that the school as a whole can do to help us out with our recycling but I can not say much on the subject. The only thing I can say is that I hope the changes start in August and it will start in our Dahlonega campus,” Crowe said.

The reasoning for it starting in Dahlonega is because they want to see if the new changes will actually work before they apply it to all campuses.

Regardless, we should all continue to do our part by recycling to help our community.