Coffee County Goes Green

This is a recycling bin located next to the vending machines in the cafeteria.

Kushi Zaver

This is a recycling bin located next to the vending machines in the cafeteria.

Kushi Zaver, Op-ed Editor

In the new 2019-2020 school year, the Science Club and Interact Club implemented recycling systems for paper at Coffee County Central High School. 

The Science Club sponsored by Ms. Parrish is in charge of all paper recycling in the school. They recently started their paper project to reduce the waste produced by the school.

 According to Parrish, the Science Club sent out bins to teachers in all departments and assigned a group of club members to each department. After the paper has accumulated, the groups go out and collect the bins which are taken to recycling stations behind the central office.

These bins are provided by Keep Coffee County Beautiful, which is a non-profit organization. In addition, they also supply bins for plastic, metal, and cardboard. They stand by their motto, “To promote a cleaner, greener, more beautiful Coffee County through litter prevention, waste reduction and beautification. ”

Parrish boasted that the club has “filled the back of my SUV up twice.” This substantial amount of recycled material proves that the student body and faculty are dedicated to an environmentally conscious future. 

The club hopes to expand this program in the future to recycling plastic and cardboard as well, but in the meantime Ms. Parish states, “I just wish more people would be mindful.”  

Meanwhile, Interact Club, run by Ms. Perry, has implemented a plastic bottle recycling program to provide the opportunity for students to recycle while at school. 

The bins are located in all departments of the school and the program is led by students. 

According to Ms. Perry, “There are four large blue plastic recycling bins around the school:  one in the cafeteria, two in the gym, and the fourth one is planned to be moved close to the bus loading zone entrance.” 

The Sergeant at Arms, Lindsey Cauble, is responsible for checking if the bins are full and reporting back to Ms. Perry, and if they are full Landon and Logan Meadows will collect the bottles and replace the bags during homeroom. 

Once the materials have been gathered, a local Rotarian will pick them up and take them to the recycling center every month or whenever it is necessary. 

The club has collected three full bags of plastic and hopes to collect more in the future. Ms. Perry also states, “I would love to get paper and plastic recycling dumpsters located on school property in the future.”

If the two clubs work together, they may be able to make their mutual dream of creating an eco-friendly school come true.