AVONDALE- Recycling in most countries is now just ending up in the trash rather than being recycled due to there not being many places to store plastics and papers.

In this day and age, most people do not know what is recyclable or how to recycle, for example, when putting a water bottle in the recycling bin you should take off the cap. Yes, the cap is recyclable but the reason for taking it off is so that it is easier for the water bottle to be crushed or if you wanna make recycling easier just crush the bottle yourself then recycle it along with the trash.

“We can reuse the plastic for other materials and products instead of littering and making it harder for people to remove things from the garbage that are supposed to be recycled,” said Matthew Pacheco. 

Some tips when recycling is if there is a little bit of grease on your pizza box is to cut out the part with grease to help out the environment and throw it away in the trash and the rest of the cardboard away.

“Things like plastics should be recycled so it doesn’t harm any of the smaller animals that eat it,” said Noah Collins.

When you have a plastic bottle that has a flavored drink please rinse the bottle once you’re done and toss it into the recycling bin. The reason why you should rinse a flavored drink is so that it doesn’t create bad odors, rot, or attract bugs into the recycle bins.

“I see my students, the teenagers who represent our future who do not know how to recycle, because they were never taught how outside of the generic ‘paper, plastic, cardboard and cans.’ This is a problem because it creates the misconception that anything that has any plastic is recyclable. For example, candy wrappers; they sound plastic, they feel plastic, but they are not recyclable. A simple google search would tell you this, but due to the misconception and lack of education of how to recycle properly, teens throw trash in the recycling. The solution? Teach how to properly recycle at a young age,” said Ms. Franzen.