Each year the average American throws away one million pounds of garbage. The easiest way to decrease this large amount of waste is to recycle.

Dubuque Senior High School strongly encourages recycling in the community. Each classroom has one recycling bin in which students may recycle paper, cardboard, or bottles. How do these bins help the environment?

Life skills and PLP students walk around the school and collect the recyclables inside the bins. From there, the recyclables are sorted into five bins; white paper, colored paper, other paper, other recyclable items, and Five-cent redemption.

Once a week, Tri-State Shred comes to Senior and picks up the paper. The recyclable items brought to a recycling dumpster and are picked up by Republic Service. Five-cent redemption bottles are taken to the redemption center. The money collected from the bottles is given to the Ram Recyclers to fund supplies and outings for the Personal Learning Program.

Not only is recycling helpful to the planet, but it also can be fun. Brooke Ricks (9) describes how she enjoys sorting the papers by color and going to the rooms to collect the recyclables. Landon Pergande (9) says that recycling amuses him because of all of the different people he is able to meet.

Recycling is not always sanitary for the students sorting it because of things people throw into it. Pergande describes finding chewed gum while recycling. Mrs. Mickey King says the grossest thing that she has found in the recycling is spilled drinks. Once, a drink spilled all over the carts they use to collect recyclables in and on the floor.

Want to get more involved in recycling at DSHS? Volunteer opportunities are available for students to collect recyclable from classrooms before school. To get more information on how to get involved, contact Mrs. King at [email protected] or stop by room A118.