Although there are recycling bins in almost every classroom, there is no active recycling program in place at the high school.

That will change next year when a new program to encourage more recycling school-wide will be implemented.

About a decade ago, Baldwin started a recycling program. However, somewhere along the line, teachers and students came to believe that the recycled materials were being mixed in with trash in the dumpsters. As a result, the bins were used interchangeably, resulting in unsorted materials that are unable to be recycled.

The new program will not only encourage the proper usage of classroom recycling bins, but also put recycling bins in the cafeterias, which will reduce the amount of waste the high school produces.

“My goal is to see less trash in the classrooms. I want to see students throwing their waste in the proper cans, so it becomes subconscious to do it the right way,” Facilities Manager Randy Huddart said.

Whitehall Elementary School implemented a program encouraging the students to sort their trash into colored bins representing recyclable and disposable materials. Although the high school’s new recycling program will not include the simplified signs and color-coded bins used at Whitehall, the same policy of organizing disposable materials will apply.

“If you can ingrain recycling into students at a younger age, they are much more willing to do it, but the high school is its own entity,” Huddart said.

Recycling is not a difficult or time-consuming task. To make Baldwin’s new program possible, all teachers and students will have to do is throw their trash in the proper bin.

“Recycling makes good sense for the environment and the school because it saves money, resources, and the planet,” social sciences teacher Natalie Grattan said.

Grattan is not the only teacher who encourages sustainable habits such as recycling.

English teacher Dr. Lisa Klein advocates for environmentally friendly alternatives to wasteful products inside and outside of school.

She said she is “happy to see so many students bring re-useable water bottles and coffee containers” as opposed to single-use disposable ones.

Some students are developing more sustainable habits like purchasing reusable water bottles, and they said the word to produce less waste is spreading.

“A recycling program at Baldwin would be a great step in the right direction toward making our school a greener and less environmentally impactful space,” junior Corina Pittman said.