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With all the pollution and other environmental problems in the world, more and more people are deciding to be environmentally friendly.
The students at Ramstein High School’s environmental science class are getting into the “green” spirit themselves by recycling at their school. For the past five years, the students in this class have been organizing and carrying out the paper recycling in RHS. They decided to step in when they realized how much paper was going to waste.
“We saw that not much recycling was being done,” said Pat Hassenbuhler, environmental science teacher and organizer of the paper recycling at RHS. “The company that collected garbage found that Americans didn’t do a very good job in recycling, so it wasn’t worth the effort for them. So, we decided to take up paper recycling in the school.”
This generation of young adults is also gaining a good lesson in making the most of their resources, one that many of their elders seem not to have learned.
Mr. Hassenbuhler said that, in the way of recycling, “it’s the adults mostly not doing what they’re supposed to do – not the kids.”
The children at the school decided to tackle paper recycling in particular, the lack of which creates huge problems in landfills all over the world.
“The problem that we have with landfills is that they fill up with our garbage, and a lot of it is paper,” Mr. Hassenbuhler said, “and most of the rest of it gets burnt and goes into the atmosphere, which is also bad for the environment. The paper that does get recycled is turned back into something useful, often cardboard.”
Hopefully, this beneficial trend will catch on.
“If everyone on base decided to pitch in, it would help a lot. We could save a lot of trees if we recycled all of the discarded paper,” Mr. Hassenbuhler said.
The participants know the importance of this program, as well.
“I think it’s a great environmental step,” said Bob Ervin, an RHS 11th grader who helps with recycling. “Paper recycling is a really great thing for the school.”
The students at RHS have been very successful in this environmental mission.
“It’s been an uphill battle,” Mr. Hassenbuhler said, “but the kids have been doing a really good job.”
