Something green has made its home in the Panther Square, symbolizing a new movement at school. With the sounds of trumpets and cheers, students were introduced to a new school-wide waste management plan. The new recycling bin, the first of the many new bins to be implemented around school, now harbors a home for plastic and glass bottles, bottles that would have otherwise been mindlessly thrown out and sent to a landfill.

A group of students voiced the need for recycling bins around campus to assistant principal Mr. Hunter; he quickly responded with an approved course of action and a new school-wide initiative: “Clean it, green it!”

“I felt grateful that we had an administrator who focused on the same goals as us. One of the most prevalent issues in this school is cleanliness, as students usually don’t pick up after themselves; it was great to see him recognize that,” senior Mark Hellinger said, one of the students working on the project.

The plan soon took action as the group of students reused abandoned trash cans and painted then with eye-catching green paint along with the symbolic recycling arrows. The new bins not only signify cleaning the littered hallways but also making the school a bit greener.

During lunch, cafeteria trays and bottles can be seen sprawled across the picnic tables and enveloping the cafeteria, demonstrating the need for an updated course of waste management. Although trashcans are seen at the most prominent corners around school it was obvious a stand should be taken — a stand not only including a more diverse place to put trash, but education for all students.

One of the main issues that came up during the process was educating students on which items should be disposed of in the new bins. As most students usually find themselves in a rush between classes, they sometimes forget the importance of making the extra effort to recycle an article of trash.

“I have to be very insistent when telling people what to put in the bins. Many times, people just ignore the three arrows and throw in non-recyclable trash,” junior Will Nunez said.

One way the group combatted this was providing awareness to the student body; science classes are now being taught what items and materials specifically go in the bin with the help of proactive students and teachers.

Additionally, the same group of students, calling themselves the ‘Palmetto Planeteers,’ are in the midst of assisting the school with building a solar-powered charger for the security guard’s golf carts. This charger will significantly help the school’s environmental impact by using a cleaner source of energy for the carts.

So as the first recycling bin stands tall in the corner of The Panther Square, a new mindset seems to approach Palmetto. With students taking a notice to how this small act makes a difference, plastic and glass water bottles slowly, but surely, fill the bins. This bright green can proves as a catalyst for not only a greener approach to cleaning the school’s littered hallways, but also a way to educate the student-body on the importance of making benefitting decisions.