Did you know Americans use enough plastic wrap to wrap all of Texas? Americans will also throw away over one million tons of aluminum cans and foil, more than 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars, over four million tons of office paper and nearly 10 million tons of newspaper. If all of these materials can be recycled, why do we continue throwing them away? Can individuals make a difference?

The answer to that: Recycling only one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours. Imagine if everyone recycled. Now, I know the W.A.R.R. club has already taken on this issue and it is the reason why Wantagh High School recycles, but not all of our classrooms have recycling bins. As a student I’ve noticed that people will recycle when they have the option in the classroom but when there is no opportunity, students will just throw it away.

When carbon dioxide is reduced, there is less pollution and water, energy, lumber and paper are saved. It only makes sense to recycle. Our generation is very big on technology, no matter what kind of phone you have, whether it’s the iPhone, Blackberry, or just a plain old flip phone. Don’t you hate when your battery is dying, especially at the most inconvenient times? We would do anything to save battery: deleting all the apps being used, turning off the brightness of the screen–absolutely anything to save that last amount of energy.

So why can’t we do the same thing for our environment? Wantagh High School is full of respectful teenagers who know right from wrong. If you were staying at someone’s house you wouldn’t make a complete mess of the place. No, you’d help clean up.

It’s our job to keep the Earth clean and be respectful of our planet. Take the chance to save our community and our planet and recycle!