According to Roots and Shoots leader Katie Christiansen, it is important the school is changing its recycling plan because it shows the dedication students at Park have concerning the environment.

“It reflects what students care about, as we’ve seen in the students’ initiation (and passing) of the climate action plan. So, as one of the student centers in the city, it’s really important that we’re following through with what students wanna see being done,” Christiansen said.

Junior club member Amelia Ryan said the new initiative will also help goals Roots and Shoots has to eliminate waste in St. Louis Park.

“We have a climate action plan and we want to reduce solid waste by 50 percent by 2030, so it’s really important that this step is involved because it’ll impact that plan a lot and help it,” Ryan shared.

Junior Zoe Frank viewed the new initiative as a necessary step towards curtailing the amount of waste that leaves Park.

“In the big picture, there are environmental issues consuming our planet, and we have to start small. A single school recycling seems like not that big of an impact, but if we all start working together to do it, it gets better,” Frank said.

Ryan affirmed the current state of recycling at Park is a significant improvement from last year, and it will do well for the meantime until the new program’s launch in two months.

“I feel like we’re at a good place, especially opposed to last year at this time when everything was just going into the trash,” Ryan revealed. “I think it could be better, and it’s going to be better by January when our official launch is, but right now we’re in a good place.”

According to Christiansen, the new plan calls for special measures to make sure the recycled material will get sorted correctly.

“Custodians will actually be sorting the recycling, and there will be designated places to sort the recycling,” Christiansen said.

Ryan further explained how the designated places will help students sort correctly when they go to dispense waste.

“We will have clear designated bins with bright signs, three separate bins, one for trash, one for paper recycling and one for bottles and cans. (With this), students can see where each one goes so that they don’t all end up in the same place.”

According to Christiansen, Roots and Shoots will be doing more to promote the new recycling agenda throughout the weeks leading up to the launch in January.

“Through the next couple months we will be doing more education, more presentations and actually get other resources in place to support the program,” Christiansen reported. “We will be launching it in January.”

The new recycling plan, headed by Park environmental club Roots and Shoots, will officially open in January 2019. For more information concerning its arrival, check The Echo for updates.