Green, blue and black. Compost, recycling and landfill. These bins are placed throughout the school for the our waste disposal. However, they are often neglected or ignored. It shouldn’t be hard to take the little amount of time it takes to throw a recyclable in the blue bin and a compostable item into the green bin. The transition from disposing items in correct bins to wrong bins has happened too quickly. It seems like more and more we become oblivious to the colors and words on the bins and only see them as containers to help to rid ourselves of whatever unwanted objects are in hand. Ranging from a soda can in a landfill bin, to a plastic candy wrapper in the compost bin, these tools are abused and not respected.

While it can be said that, at times, the labels are not very clear on whether or not a certain object is recyclable or not, it does not make up for the constant acts of indifference that occur around these bins. It is sad to see how little thought gets put into throwing things away at brunch or lunch, and according to Green Waste.com, 75 percent of our average waste is recyclable but only 30 percent is recycled. Frequently, we choose to throw away their recyclables in trash cans because the recycling bins are too far away, even though, according to Green Waste, recycling is the easiest form of plastic pollution prevention.

Granted, it is tough to be constantly thinking of recycling when there is so much other stuff going on. School is stressful within itself, so at times, recycling is not always on the forefront of our minds. But is also important to remember that these bins cannot be ignored. Instead of throwing away recyclables or shooting trash into the garbage bin, we should take that split second to check whether or not the item they have is trash or not. Then, after spending that second finding out whether it is or not, tossing it in the correct bin.

Not only would this help the environment by allowing recycling companies to have more items to reuse, it would also create a more trash-conscious society.

And I admit, at times I am at fault for forgetting to put certain things in the correct bin and I acknowledge that, but by remembering to throw things in correct bins during school, students could really have an impact on not only the campus and kids around them, but it could also be a big slam dunk for our community.