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Thinking Globally, Acting Locally Most of us have heard the title phrase before. It points out that every little bit helps. In terms of waste management, everything that we reuse, recycle and compost helps reduce what we waste into our landfills. Well some folks say and some folks do, and I’d like to tell you about a group of doers that are having some measurable impacts. The Environmental Science classes at Rhinelander High School, headed by Mr. Kirby Kohler, had a hypothesis. It seemed that a lot of stuff was going into the garbage at the High School that shouldn’t have been. Mr. Kohler guided the students using the scientific method and initiated a study to find out the facts. Beginning late in 2001, Environmental Science classes went through the High School’s garbage to quantify the situation. Since some of these students went through Junior High as members of John Bigley’s Dumpster Divers, who compost paper and food lunch wastes, it was just like old times! The garbage was separated into categories including plastics, aluminum, office paper, compostable materials and actual “landfillable” garbage. Their initial results were rather disturbing, as over 2/3rds of the garbage being landfilled from the High School was actually recyclable. Something needed to be done. Meetings were held with High School Administrators, Faculty, and Custodial staff to discuss the problem and to work on solutions. Concerns were voiced about apathy towards recycling including improper separation and contamination of recyclables. The Environmental Science students went to classes and gave presentations on recycling and proper recycling separation. The hallways were covered with posters reminding students and faculty to recycle. The students have also taken it upon themselves to see that containers, such as pop cans and bottles, were collected and delivered to the proper recycling bins. After more than a year of efforts, the folks at the High School are showing some real progress. The amount of recyclable materials that are being landfilled by the High School has dropped by nearly half from 67% to 37%! Plastics showed the greatest drop from being over 20% of the garbage to less than 4%, an 80% reduction! Now let’s put this into pounds… Typically Rhinelander High School would be expected to produce a total of 300 pounds of wastes per day. Removing 30% of the garbage for recycling equates to 90 lbs per day kept out of landfills! With 180 school days per year, that equates to 8.1 tons per year! Not bad when you consider that not only has there been a reduction in the amount of material landfilled, but students received hands on experience in scientific sampling, statistical analysis, public speaking, motivating public response and thinking globally/acting locally! |
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©2004 Oneida County Solid Waste Department
PO Box 400
Rhinelander, WI 54501
PO Box 400
Rhinelander, WI 54501
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