While killing time on the senior bench recently, I saw an anonymous junior lackadaisically toss her plastic bottle into the garbage bin, as she scurried off to class. Does she understand what she is doing? Contributing to the destruction of the planet, that’s what she’s doing. Imagine the life of a plastic bottle. Oil is extracted for the earth beneath the water of lakes and rivers. Polluting the water and killing the marine life beneath it are just a couple results of this first step. The oil then travels to a refinery where it is cleaned, a process which releases plenty of carbon dioxide into the air. The plastic is then transformed into pellets that will eventually be heated and molded into a bottle shape. Once semis have hauled the plastic bottle-filled trucks to the bottle-filling factories, the bottles are distributed to stores. Now it’s up to the humans. Once their bottle is empty, will they throw it in the recycling bin or the trash? Well, anonymous junior made her choice to throw it into the trash can. The whole cycle of creating plastic for her to drink out of completely starts over. Funny, because there are these things called recycling bins laying around the school.

The matter of where recyclable items go once they are thrown away is based on the choices that people make every day. People can turn the life of a plastic bottle into a cycle, or they can kill it instantly. It’s all a choice.  I bet anonymous junior doesn’t realize that her bottle is most likely laying on the ground somewhere, being swallowed by suffering wildlife, or burning in an incinerator.

Our school isn’t educated on recycling, and it’s contributing to the destruction of the environment. Anonymous junior isn’t the only one putting recyclable items in the trash. Most of the plastic in the school is thrown into garbage cans, which are dumped and overflowing in landfills. The Cannon Falls High School doesn’t have the right amount of recycling bins among the halls to substantially contribute and be a green school.

This is all about to change. The school district will make a difference in the life of the planet and it’s inhabitants by becoming a more sustainable community, one plastic bottle at a time.