For over seventeen years, the students involved in Mariemont High School’s Environmental Club have been in charge of the recycling program in the building. The club was recycling regularly until the renovation of the school began moving forward between 2018 and 2019. Since then, Mariemont’s recycling efforts have fallen by the wayside. But as of the week of September 18, 2023 recycling at MHS is being integrated back into the school environment.
Members of the MHS staff, notably Mrs. Tolbert in the science department, have been pushing for Mariemont to recycle again. Mr. Vanags, the current environmental club advisor, says that Mrs. Ecker, one of the Mariemont high school librarians, has “been fantastic” in terms of “communicating with Tolbert, and organizing a group of teachers” to be leaders and representatives for the recycling program. Mrs. Ecker also took charge of communicating with Rumpke to grant the building access to recycling facilities. Along with this small group of faculty members who spearheaded the program, Dr. Renner, Mr. Block, and Mr. Hollander have all expressed their support of the new recycling efforts.
According to club member August Hagen, the rolling trash carts Scarlet and Gray use don’t have a second compartment to pick up recycling. Hagen says, “[they] don’t want to make [the janitorial staffs’] jobs two times as long” or make them take another lap around the school “just to pick up recycling.” Because of this, the recycling is picked up by members of Environmental Club every Tuesday and Thursday at the beginning of advisory. According to Mr. Vanags, Environmental Club “finally has good numbers [this year],” and the club leaders, Erin Wilder, Margaret Greismer, and Jonah Rodriguez have been vigilant about sending out reminders to Club members at the beginning of Warrior bell.
In the state it is in now, however, the recycling program is not perfect. Some facility members who have designated rooms in the building, but aren’t here during advisory, have expressed concerns about their recycling getting taken out. The band director, Mr. Galloway, teaches classes at the Junior High, and can’t get to the high school until 5th bell. He hopes the band room can participate in the recycling program, but he is hesitant to keep his door unlocked all day to grant access to his recycling bin during advisory.
Along with that, Environmental Club members are expected to leave advisory every week, which may not be realistic. Students will inevitably have surveys to fill out, tests to retake, or important announcements that they’ll miss if they are out during advisory. Mr. Vanags states that “This is literally just the start, and [Environmental Club] never expected it to be perfect.” He continues by saying [Environmental Club] will end up troubleshooting, looking at what can be done better, and looking for ways they “can educate better” as the program progresses.
Moving forward, Environmental Club will continue to work on helping Mariemont staff and students recycle as part of their daily routine. Club members will be putting up more signage to help staff and students remember to recycle, as well as what is and is not appropriate for our new recycling bins. They are also planning on partnering with Warrior Broadcast Network for a segment on what students can do to help the recycling program grow. As further promotion, recycling bins will become more accessible. There are plans for large bins to be placed near the office and in popular lunch locations like the hub and the activity forum.
The revival of Mariemont recycling is one of the biggest projects Environmental Club has undertaken. Beyond that, in recent years, Environmental Club has cleared honey-suckle from Miami Bluff and planted a pollinator garden just outside of the Hub. In closing, Vanags states that he is “just so proud of the kids,” and that he is glad that he is able to “work in a building where people are concerned about the environment and want to recycle.”
