This week, the Tappan Zee High School Environmental Club is hosting a recycling contest during lunch periods in celebration of Earth Day!
“The goal of the contest is to get people to recycle as much as possible and to do it correctly! Each day, we will be seeing which lunch period has the most, correctly recycled items and all of the students in the winning period will win 50% off Z-mart cookies on Thursday. During the lunch periods, we will volunteer alongside students in the COVE program to make sure everyone is properly sorting their paper, plastic and garbage and putting them in the correct bins,” explained Co-President Olivia R. “The club is working with our Assistant Principal, Mr. Frisch, and we’re hoping that by showing that it works this week, we can kickstart a new recycling program.” Between lunch periods today and tomorrow, members of the Environmental Club will weigh the total recyclable materials from each lunch period to determine the winner.
Seniors and Environmental Club Secretaries Siena K. and Anna M. have been hoping to start a new recycling initiative at TZHS. “We actually first thought of this as more of a senior goodbye project. Instead, we turned it into a group effort so everyone can get involved,” said Siena. “I’ve always been passionate about the environment and I remember my fifth grade teacher always talked about the importance of recycling and how to take care of the environment. I think it’s important that we’re all aware of the significance of recycling and how to do it properly.”
To prepare for the contest, members of the Environmental Club met with Advisor and TZHS Science Teacher/9-12 Instructional Science Coach Brian Newburger last Thursday to talk about the plan for this week and to make posters to post in the cafeteria. Each poster highlights what should be going in the garbage and what can be recycled in the paper and plastic bins.