Pollution, global warming, hurricanes, and animal extinction: these are a few of the numerous environmental problems that we must find solutions. It is everyone’s duty to do something, and the first step is to start locally: recycling should be everyone’s concern.

Each person in the U.S. generates 4.4 pounds of trash per day, meaning that collectively we generate 210 million tons of trash per year. Approximately 20 percent of trash is yard waste, 9.1 percent is plastic and 34.2 percent is paper. Students are primary consumers of paper: it is a part of every school day. The student population as a whole can do a great deal by recycling. It is not very difficult to put used papers in a recycling bin, print on both sides of a piece of paper or buy recycled paper. A great deal of waste can be cut down by doing this. Just think about it: if more is recycled at the school, then that much more of an ecological difference is made. It is little effort for students, and yet it is everything for the earth.

The fact that each ton of recycled paper means 17 trees do not have to be cut down, 3700 recycled two litre beverage containers will produce 150 fleece shirts and save one barrel of oil in the process, and recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to keep the light on in your bedroom for four hours, (according to Encorp.com), gives us an idea of how much impact recycling really makes..

Recycling paper, however, is not the only action that we can take to save energy or reduce pollution. There are many ways to conserve resources that can be found in simple everyday chores. Dishes and clothes can be washed when there is a full load to reduce energy consumption, or we can buy products that are manufactured from recycled materials. By doing this, landfill space is consolidated. Also, the simple habit of turning off the light when it is not necessary or using one electronic appliance at a time, instead of listening to the radio while watching television, would be beneficial. It’s the same story for water. Take short showers and baths, and turn off sink water when it is not being used.

All of these measures are so simple that we don’t even think about them. But if you look in our classrooms, you will see that we have blue bins. These blue bins are put there for paper that has been used, and we should make a point of using them. And though we have a small container to recycle cans and bottles in the small cafeteria, we should place larger bins in both cafeterias to increase the amount of material being recycled. Wilbraham also has a recycling service for trash. It is not a big pain to go to the dump and recycle every week. So think about it: even the smallest effort on the individual scale can make the largest difference.