The 2012-2013 AP Environmental Science students are taking over the recycling program of Fountain Valley High School for the school year.
A large part of the Environmental Science course emphasizes human impact on the world through pollution and depletion of resources. The revamping of the on-site recycling program will be an attempt to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the school.
The recycling program was started in 2008 by Greenleaf and passed on to OSEA. However, “The pick-ups of the containers were too inconsistent which frustrated teachers, they weren’t always sorted correctly or emptied all the way, and some gross trash was left inside bottles,” said Ms. Battig, who is leading this year’s recycling program.
Because the program will be mandatory for her students, she hopes to double the profit; last year they made $300-$350. Making $700 school-wide should not be a difficult task considering how much support the program has received from various teachers and departments.
However, Ms. Battig does not plan on stopping at just fixing the recycling program.
She hopes to expand the compost program by taking in all of the kitchen waste, replace the grass with a lower water maintenance need, use recycled water for sprinklers, invest in more sustainable hand dryers, use more solar and alternative energy (the history buildings’ solar lights have had a phenomenal impact), and many other simple fixes.
AP Environmental Science students will be collecting recyclable goods every three to four weeks from classrooms to achieve their goal of reducing the school’s carbon footprint.
Ms. Battig hopes the recycling program will become “a long term element of Fountain Valley High School that becomes a normal part of our behavior.”
