Athens Services sorts, recycles campus waste
Although there is no recycling system on campus, environmentally minded students and staff no longer need to worry that their waste will go into a landfill because Athens Services, the city’s trash management company, sorts and recycles all submitted waste from the school at their facility.
U.S. History teacher Stacy Rudzik and Principal Richard Lohman reached out to TCUSD Chief Business Official Marianne Sarrail, and she confirmed that Athens Services uses machines at their facilities to sort through all trash from the school and recycles plastic, paper, aluminum cans and glass.
“The assumption that all plastic, paper and aluminum thrown in the bins at school is not being recycled is false,” Lohman said. “My biggest concern is that we don’t have the opportunity for groups and clubs on our campus to recycle; whether it be for fundraising or just to do it.”
A group of students from the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization are interested in recycling paper on campus and collecting a baseline of the school’s waste production, in hopes of creating a zero waste environment.
Students and staff can help the environment by bringing reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones, and refilling them with the water fountains around campus. For paper, individuals can pay attention to the amount of paper they print and use both sides of the paper when printing to limit paper consumption.