Shrika Kulkarni Schools have a big influence on people because it is a big part of their childhood and life. Children learn from the things around them, and since they spend a lot of time on the school campus, they learn a lot from how things are done on campus. For example, if your school promotes recycling, they will learn about recycling. Schools, therefore, have a big responsibility to set a good example and have the advantage of influencing a child’s future positively with their campus. Some schools do have speakers come over and talk to their students about composting and similar concepts, however, if schools themselves became eco-friendly, students would be more profoundly impacted. So many kids spend their time on campus, meaning the campus has to provide their students with things like lunch, water, bathrooms, and other necessities, producing large amounts of waste. According to the American Federation of Teachers, “People, businesses, schools, and other organizations generate, on average, 4.7 pounds of waste per person every day”. Now, how do we reduce this number? Here are some ideas…
Using eco-friendly products instead of their more wasteful counterparts is a really good way to become more eco-friendly because it is as simple as buying a different product. This is really good for schools because schools use so many materials every day since they have to provide for so many people. For example, all students have to go to the bathroom, so the school can switch out its toilet paper for recycled toilet paper, which would be better for the environment because it takes 50% less energy to make and uses 90% less water. They can also apply this step to their disposable items such as plastic utensils. Using bamboo or a similar material would be much better for the environment because it is compostable. Promoting reuse is another way the school can improve its impact on the environment by teaching the next generation. For example, they can get a water bottle filling station to promote reusable water bottles instead of plastic bottled water. Composting is a great way to show how we can reuse our waste and make it soil for plants. Schools can have small gardens and near it a composting method (for example, a worm bin, but there are many other ways to compost). They can use the soil that comes out of this as soil for plants instead of spending money on soil. It’s also a great way to teach kids how composting works! Now, there are some materials that schools need that can’t be composted, or there isn’t a reusable alternative. This applies to certain supplies made of plastic, for example, highlighters and printer paper. In these cases, I encourage looking for a product that uses recycled materials, for example, recycled paper or recycled plastic. This is good for a few reasons: it is better than virgin materials and it promotes recycling. Recycling sounds great because it is reusing used materials to make new materials, however, have you ever wondered where your recycling went? Whatever happened to those materials? What have they been recycled into? According to ScienceAdvances, “As of 2015 … 9% [of plastic waste]... had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment” When you buy something made from recycled materials, you are promoting the process of taking the recycling and actually making it into another product. Our schools are a very important part of anyone's life because it is where we learn. We learn what our teachers teach, but also the way things are done, and the tools and methods used. Students are always observing their surroundings and learning what is right or wrong from them. Schools need to change their common practices and products to be a better example for kids and have a better impact on the earth. We need everyone’s help to make this change, from students to parents, from teachers to the government, we need everyone on board to make and support this change for good. Resources: https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/bmmbschoolrecycle2012.pdf https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/You-and-your-home/Live-sustainably/Single-use-items/Toilet-paper#:~:text=Choosing%20recycled%20toilet%20paper%20also,making%20them%20from%20raw%20materials. https://list25.com/25-shocking-facts-about-pollution/ https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782 (In the article “Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made” by three authors, Roland Geyer, Jenna Jambeck, and Kara Lavender Law)
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