AP Environmental Science, the Global Student Embassy, and Lorax Club have teamed up to create Cats Care, a new initiative to encourage reducing, reusing, and recycling on campus. On October 17, Leadership representatives visited classrooms to introduce this initiative.
“We’re going to have compost bins near the trash and recycling bins, so people have to make a conscious choice to put compost in the waste bin,” said Commissioner of Student Affairs Merinda Zywicz. “The environmental science class is building a compost garden near the football field.”
The Lorax Environmental Club is one of the proponents of Cats Care. “Cats Care is literally compost and reduce, reuse, recycle,” said Lorax Club President Mina Arasteh. “When you throw trash out and it decomposes in a landfill, it gives off methane gas and goes to waste. Methane is one of the gases that traps heat in the atmosphere.”
Campolindo students and faculty produce about 5,900 pounds of waste per day, according to Arasteh. She said, “We did a waste audit last year and there was a lot of uneaten food. We’re trying to get kids to waste less food, but if they are compelled to waste food it goes to fertilize the garden.” The bins will be set up in the quad and around school within the next few weeks.
Environmental science teacher Patrick Wildermuth said, “We want to make the soil better for our garden and reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill.” According to Wildermuth, a lot of cans and other recyclable items could be sold to the recycling center for profit, but instead end up in the trash bin. “Leadership is doing a great job with recycling, but I think we can do even better,” Wildermuth added.
Senior Kyle Merryman, who filmed a video with the Lorax Club to kick-start the new initiative, thinks that environmental awareness should be important to all students. “We may not think we can be affected, but we are codependent, and we need to prepare and lessen the effect.”
Merryman explained, “We don’t have to worry about our freedoms or feeding ourselves, so we need to take the next step.”
