Is this recyclable? Is this landfill? What’s a compost?!?

If these sound like the thoughts that race through your brain while you hold your trash and play eenie meenie minie moe between the blue, green, and black bins, then you are not alone.

Mira Costa has recently made a leap in the right direction for the environment by installing recycling bins in all of the classrooms and quads. Each room now has a mini blue recycling basket, a larger blue recycling bin, and a black trash bin.

You really can’t expect a high school student to memorize what goes in the different bins. There’s not much room left in our developing brains, with all the vocabulary and formulas and drama crammed in there. So, while it’s great progress that Mira Costa at least has recycling bins now, here are some of the things that aren’t disposed of correctly and should be kept in mind.

Let’s start with the basics. Some things that can be recycled include:

-Aluminum Cans

-Newspaper

-Plastics

-Glass

-Food packaging 

-Pizza Boxes (food removed!)

-Brown Paper Bags

Now, here are some things that you should throw in the black bins.

-Napkins

-Tissue Paper

-Paper Towels

-Wax Paper

-Wrapping Paper

Now that Mira Costa is a proud owner of functioning recycling bins, it’s imperative that they get used correctly. This knowledge is not only applicable on a high school campus, but in helpful for most public and private places!

For more information on what can be recycled and what can’t, check out  Waste Management’s suggestions.