York has always has always been proud that “going green” has matched one of the school colors. Although York has always been sensitive about its carbon footprint, its recycling program, ran by chemistry teacher and Eco Club sponsor Mr. Bob Blaus, has been a topic of conversation in recent years. While there may not have been a recycling system set in place some years back, Blaus has stepped up to shine a light on the custodians and how they’ve helped our recycling program improve day by day.

“It was, and it is on the job list of every custodian to recycle in every classroom every day,” Blaus said.
York’s new process with recycling has become a joint effort between everyone in the school in order to improve our recycling program.

“It’s a collaborative effort between the custodians, teachers and students. The custodians place the big bins in the hallway the night before,” Blaus said. “The Eco Club spent another thousand dollars to buy large bins. Teachers are informed to put it out by the designated period, and then Eco Club members and other interested students take the bins from the hallway and wheel them to the loading dock area.”

Despite the obvious changes that students have seen in the hallways with those large blue bins sitting outside every classroom, some concerns have come across with the amount of participation this collaborative effort is in need of.

Even though Eco Club established the new recycling program, it seems like student participation has gradually decreased over time.

“Last week, only six students showed up. Six students can’t do the job for the entire school. If you believe in the environment, people are going to go out and do something about it,” Blaus said, as he noted the upsetting number of students who dropped out of helping with this process.

“If we had twenty people show up, we’d get the job done in five minutes. The handful of students that do show up just end up getting dumped on and don’t want to do the job themselves anymore.”

Blaus may have a lot on the table, but the members of Eco Club have not given up hope for always looking for ways to improve the programs at York.

Senior Hadley Brown, a long-time member of Eco Club, appreciates how far we as a community have come since the program was set in stone.

“It doesn’t take very long, but I think it makes a big difference,” said Brown, discussing how beneficial York’s recycling program has been to us. “I feel so much better knowing that we are recycling all the paper we use at the school now.”

As the weight of our school’s trash and recycling is held down on Blaus’s shoulders, he still holds hope for how we can make a change not only in our school’s recycling process, but in communities and cities as well. York hasn’t just learned from its past, but it continues to show off how much we really demonstrate Duke pride by bleeding green.

“With all the complaints people have about recycling, it’s a student’s opportunity to put up or shut up,” Blaus said. “If everybody does just a little bit, we can move mountains.”