Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Three words that have been preached to us on a regular basis since we were old enough to hold a plastic milk carton. On every April 22 since 1970, when Earth Day was named a national holiday, there have been countless environmental awareness activities. The purpose of these events has been to inspire different parts of Earth’s population to have a greater appreciation for the planet.

As the saying goes, “Every day is Earth Day.” If that’s the case, then why is it so difficult to recycle? Even in the lunchroom the trash cans are cluttered with plastic containers and aluminum cans. I’ll admit, I’m just as guilty as the next guy for tossing my bottles in the wrong bins and I’m not going to say that I’m a huge supporter of “tree huggers” and other recycling maniacs. But really, how hard would it be to ask for another crate right next to where we dump our trays each day that would be available to students rather than just having one sit there overflowed and unusable?

Baby steps like these are the key to getting a big group on the recycling bandwagon because people are fed up with being told about how they need to recycle. Recycling is important and I believe that if it’s easy enough to recycle simple things, at places like the cafeteria or fast food restaurants, then even those who don’t care about recycling will still use the bins just because they’re right there.

Other than having to hear people complain to me how the general public should recycle more, Earth Day isn’t actually that painful of a holiday. Throughout Earth Day’s history there have been lots of fun events that raise awareness for environmental problems in an entertaining way. This year on Earth Day, Disneynature is coming out with its fourth nature documentary Chimpanzee. In the opening week of the film’s release Disneynature has agreed to donate a portion of its sales to the Jane Goodall Institute in an effort to save chimpanzees and the habitats that they live in around the world.

Although big movements like these shouldn’t be necessary to influence teenagers to make eco-friendly decisions they’ve proven to be effective. The thought that I think would make a difference in the recycling controversy is more of an “every vote matters” approach. Any little way that students can help the environment probably makes a bigger difference than most people realize. Only about one in six plastic bottles actually make it to the recycling bin. The sad part about this is that water bottles can be turned into useful items like fleece or carpeting. Not to mention recycling one water bottle enough energy can be saved to power a 60-watt lightbulb for six hours.

It doesn’t take much to have a noticeable effect in the world of recycling. At the moment it doesn’t require any kind of lifestyle changes and there aren’t very many major habits that need breaking. However, if changes aren’t made sooner rather than later, the problems created could become overwhelming. And think, all we had to do was simply separate our trash.

By: Calvin Freeman