Recycling program gets a ‘makeover’

Northern Burlington County Regional High School students participate in "Extreme Recycling Makeover" program

By: William Wichert
   When it comes to recycling, location is key.
   Putting signs and containers throughout the building and along the athletic fields are all part of the strategy devised by a group of students who are bringing an "Extreme Recycling Makeover" program to Northern Burlington County Regional High School.
   The school has always recycled in baskets here and there, but this latest program follows a countywide initiative to boost recycling numbers and raise awareness among all those looking for a place to toss their trash.
   "It’s not that (the students) don’t care," said Annie Diaz, a senior at the school and a member of the Students for Earth’s Recovery Everywhere (SFERE) group, which is leading the new program. "It’s that they don’t know the situation going on."
   The situation is this: Confusion over what and where to recycle has led to apathy among students, rising costs of trash collection, and containers improperly filled with recyclable items and just regular garbage.
   Peggy Apice, a family consumer science teacher and one of the supervisors of SFERE, said high school students sometimes have a hard time squeezing recycling into the their busy lives.
   "It’s not on the top of everybody’s list," she said.
   State officials tried to change that last year, directing each of the county health departments to increase their enforcement of recycling violations at local schools, said Ann Moore, the recycling coordinator for Burlington County.
   This directive inspired county officials to make schools the target of their recycling outreach efforts for 2004 and 2005, said Ms. Moore. Next year’s target will be local businesses, she said.
   In her meetings with the 10 participating school districts over the last six months, Ms. Moore said she has given a simple lesson about location: "If you do not have recycling containers sitting right next to trash containers, you’re not going to have recycling."
   Students in the elementary and middle school grades may become more excited about recycling, but on the high school level, a little extra push is needed from the students, teachers, administrators, and everybody else going through the building, she said.
   "If they want this (program) to work, everybody has to get involved," said Ms. Moore.
   A schoolwide assembly on recycling is exactly what got things started at one of the county’s pilot programs at the Burlington County Institute of Technology (BCIT), and the effort seems to have paid off.
   Between October 2004 and May 2005, BCIT increased the amount of pounds in recyclables collected by 300 percent, said Ms. Moore. The other pilot program at the Riverside Township School District produced a 150 percent increase in its recycling during the same time period, she said.
   Once other schools can follow this pattern, the cost savings are sure to follow, said Ms. Moore. Schools must buy recycling containers from the county, which offers a discount, but the county does not charge to pick up the recyclables, she said. If schools increase recycling, they are reducing the trash loads picked up by their paid trash collection agencies and cutting overall costs, she said.
   "Conservatively, if they have a really bad program, they should be able to cut their costs in half (with these recycling changes)," said Ms. Moore.
   Ms. Apice said SFERE did not have figures yet on the expected cost savings, but she said the group students has already put the county’s advice into action.
   Banners and signs decorate the cafeteria, and all of the students and teachers have gone through some recycling training. New containers can already be seen near trash cans throughout the hallways and on the athletic fields—a place that sophomore Sam Fairlie said surely needs them.
   "Usually, they just throw it on the ground and say, ‘we’ll clean it up later,’" said Sam, a member of the soccer team.
   The more difficult task ahead is reminding students what they can and cannot put into those containers. They can recycle paper, but they should not recycle pizza boxes and paper towels, because they can be contaminated.
   "A lot of people get that wrong," said Tiffany Davis, a senior at the school and president of SFERE.
   Another misconception has to do with bottles. They are recyclable, but before putting them in the containers, students must take the caps off. "When the machine tries to compost it, the pressure inside will force the bottle to explode," said Annie.
   If all else fails, Annie said ,she can always make her classmates feel bad about what they’re doing to the environment by not recycling.
   "The guilt trip works."