Las Lomas Gets Green by Recycling and Composting
In the 2016-2017 school year, Las Lomas became an environmentally friendly school with the new additions of recycling and compost bins scattered all over campus.
Las Lomas is full of environmental activists who want to make the school, and the world, a better place.
One of them is Las Lomas’s very own teacher, Ms. McTaggart. Ms. McTaggart is one of the teachers here on campus who teaches the Foods 1 classes.
McTaggart was glad to see that Las Lomas was starting the program. “I feel upset that Walnut Creek does it in the elementary schools, and then it just stops,” says McTaggart.
GSE leader, Calia Lockey, is a compost and recycling fanatic who loves the Earth. She loves the benefits of the program as well. “It’s really green -- it makes sure we’re getting fresh compost for our garden,” says Lockey.
We also get money from the state for doing composting,” says Lockey. She also went on to explain how the state of California is making it mandatory for all business and
state owned properties to recycle and compost.
“I just think it’s vital for the environment, you know all the landfill, the island of garbage in the Pacific Ocean and it’s just terrifying to me that we’re adding to it,” says McTaggart.
Recycling and Composting is going to be a big factor in how the world will look in 50 years.
Freshman Mariyah Keifa also explained a little bit about how she thinks composting and recycling will help in the future. “With the addition of more recycling bins around campus, students will be encouraged to recycle more and eventually they will get used to recycling in their everyday lives and in places besides just school,” says Keifa.
Sophomore, Audrey Kaplan says that composting is going to have a big impact in the future. “It’s so we don’t contribute more to the landfill. We’re saving the Earth,” says Kaplan.
Composting and recycling is necessary for Las Lomas for many reasons. “Not only is it just the law, but also it’s really important to just give back to the Earth. So making sure everything you’re doing is sustainable is important,” says Lockey.
This program is to teach the community how we as a generation can help try and save the environment and stop the plastic pollution from killing us all off.
The program isn’t going as well as planned, but GSE is hoping that in the near future, kids will be taught the right way.
Ms. McTaggart explained to me how the program is going so far. “It’s good because we’re recycling more and composting more, but kids still aren’t very well trained. We’re always [getting] mixed [waste] in the recycling. So, I think we need to do a lot more education next year,” says Mactaggart.
A good way to start off is to know the recycling and composting basics so we can all help keep the garbage at a minimum.
“In the green bin, it can be [soiled] paper products and any food waste. In the blue bin, it’s [going to] be paper, plastic, cans, and jars. In the black bin, it’s everything else --mostly things like plastic bags,” says McTaggart.
