Saturday, October 24, 2009

Sorting Garbage

It was a beautiful Saturday today. The perfect kind of day to spend outside in the fresh air, which I did. I spent six hours in the parking lot of my school sorting through other people's garbage. Okay, it's really not as bad as it sounds. We have a really great recycling program at R.S.S., technically we are called a "zero waste" school and we don't have any more garbage cans and absolutely everything can be kept out of the land fill. Truth: there are still illegal garbage cans, but there are also recycle stations, probably around 10 or 15 around the school. At each station there's a paper recycling box, a juice box bin, a food waste bin (for all food, paper cups, paper towels and napkins etc.) and the recycling tower. It's one of those plastic rolly things with 5 drawers and you split soft plastic, hard plastic, foil lined plastic, styrofoam and electronics into their own separate drawer and it all goes to special recycling stations and is all kept out of the landfill. Well, once a month (and this actually started before the in-school recycling) we have a mass recycle depot in the parking lot. We sort all of that and way more and bag it and keep it all out of the landfill. When I started working at the depots last year it was totally unorganized and completely chaotic, but it's really changed and now there's a great method. It's actually kind of theraputic (not that I need therapy or anything) to sort through the disgusting garbage and keep it out of the oceans and landfills. I did that for four hours today, then worked for another 2 (a little short of 2 actually) at the bottle drive for band. It's one of many fundraisers we do. Anyway, that equalled almost SIX HOURS spent at school on Saturday. True the school was actually closed, but the point remains the same. I don't mind though. I love school, and mine is so great, I couldn't imagine going anywhere else. Even though I actually went to two other places for nine years before I got here and thought the same thing about both of them. Maybe I just settle well. Anyway, to wrap it up. Saturday: sorted garbage, watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, blogged, now I'm off to... I don't know. I'll think of something.