Sustainability Club is one the newest clubs at Seymour High School, but what does it do? What are its goals and plans? What does its future look like? And why should you join it?
What is a Sustainability Club? Mrs. Bane, Honors Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher and the sponsor of the club explained that Sustainability Club “is a refresh of a club that we had long ago that recycled paper, cans and bottles.” Currently, only paper can be recycled though, but she does hope to add cans and bottles later in the spring. Senior Sam Baker wanted to bring recycling back was the main reason for the club’s relaunch.
So, how are we making sure everything is actually getting recycled? Mrs. Bane stated that “we met with two different people, one from the city and one from the county, to see what we needed to do to begin recycling again and get some help from them in regards to bins and support.”
Wait, so what has been happening to the stuff we’ve been putting in the recycling bins these past few years? It’s been getting thrown away, but that’s only because after COVID happened, the custodians had to shift their focus so they haven’t had the time to get recycling going again. That’s also one of the reasons Sustainability Club is back.
Sam Baker is the president of the club who’s responsible for “guiding meetings, trying to start new ideas of how we can be more sustainable, recycle more, promote self conservation and bring awareness to issues on how to benefit the earth.” He started the club because he doesn’t “like watching people throw away plastic or aluminum. It just kind of upsets me, and I know that we’re not there yet recycling that kind of stuff, but we have to start somewhere with paper. The environment is kind of a one time thing; it’s all we got so [we are] just reinforcing everything.”
He believes that one of the main reasons many students don’t recycle is because “people are just uneducated on recycling and [fewer] people on this issue just don’t care about it. [I]f they knew how bad it was and, how it affects them: the extreme weather, hurricanes, disasters and climate change, and even though this is a small part of eliminating waste, it plays into the bigger picture.” He plans on getting people to recycle by educating them on the benefits of recycling and promoting the club. His goal for the end of the year is to “ start recycling aluminum and plastic, promoting paper, getting a lot of people to help and underclassmen leadership. ”
Sydney Bush, one of the two underclassmen in the club, talked about the club’s future. Sydney said she joined the club because “I’m really interested in protecting our environment, and I think the school recycling again is a great way to help.” Her main goal for the future is “to be able to recycle plastics and cardboard when construction is over, and we have room for another dumpster.” The club is mostly made up of seniors with only two underclassmen so the following years will be difficult to get anything done with only two students, but she says she isn’t worried because “I think lots of people will want to help as we’ve already seen with just two collections.” She plans on recruiting people and getting the word of the club out there by going on the announcements and making posters. She hopes that by the end of her time here at Seymour High School “ the club is thriving on its own and that we recycle paper, cans and plastic.”
Everyone should care about the environment. Are you interested in recycling or learning how to live a more sustainable lifestyle? Or need NHS hours? If your answer is yes to any of these questions and would like to join, you can contact either Mrs. Bane ([email protected]) or Sam Baker ([email protected]). Make sure you’re recycling all your paper, recycling at home if you’re able, and if you see someone putting something that should be recycled, nicely remind them of where it’s supposed to go.
