Madeline Diamond
Reporter
State and local government sources, as well as those from New Canaan Public Schools (NCPS), unanimously agreed that New Canaan High School (NCHS) can stand to improve its recycling standards. All sources recommended ways for our school and individuals to become more environmentally friendly.
At the present time, NCPS practices “source separation” recycling, which requires custodians to manually separate recyclables. Bob Willoughby, Facilities Manager for the New Canaan Public School District, noted that NCPS is currently trying to use a new type of recycling. “We do a good job, but we could do better,” Mr. Willoughby said.
He supports the move to “single source” recycling. This type of recycling also combines recyclables, but the separation is done by a recycling company. “Single source recycling saves us man hours and money on hauling,” he said.
Don Smith, the New Canaan Assistant Superintendent of Solid Waste also gave New Canaan recycling a “fair” grade. Due to its small size, the town of New Canaan faces waste disposal and recycling issues because it uses private haulers. Larger cities have a simpler, more uniform approach to waste hauling. Smith also noted that the town itself recycles, although many residents do not. Thus, the town handles the small amount of recyclables that New Canaan residents properly dispose of. “Residents could recycle more paper products. They are used to throwing them away, and schools have the same issues. A lot of paper ends up in the trash,” Mr. Smith said.
According to Mr. Smith, New Canaan would be more environmentally friendly if the residents did their part. Similarly, if student and teacher recycling increased, the high school’s recycling would improve.
As stated by the Connecticut General Statutes and the Regulations of the Connecticut State Agencies, there are ten mandated items to be recycled by schools. Many of these items, including but not limited to, school supplies and mechanical waste, come in contact with students daily. NCHS does recycle these items, however only the recyclables placed in the appropriate receptacles are properly disposed of.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEP) website suggests a plethora of improvements for schools to become more environmentally friendly. While NCHS does follow some of the DEP suggestions, including providing some bottle and can recycling containers with “lid[s]having holes to insert bottles and cans,” the school is not in accordance with many other recommendations.
For example, the DEP suggests that each classroom have individual bins for garbage, paper and bottles and cans. Virtually all NCHS classrooms have trash cans, while fewer have recycling bins and even fewer have separate bins for paper and bottles and cans.
“School office areas often are the biggest violators of the recycling law because recycling provisions are not convenient. The best recycling programs implement strategies which make it as easy to recycle as it is not to recycle,” the DEP said.
