For years a blue bin has been a universal symbol of recycling. Growing up the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle” is instilled amongst students in hopes that they repurpose their old bottles and cardboard in to positively impact the environment.

However, since students are usually not in the building when the trash and recycling bins are emptied, many wonder if Midlothian actually recycles. 

When asked about recycling, Jorge Rodridguez, one of the many day-porters at Midlo, said “Yes, we recycle.”

“We separate plastics and cardboards and anything that can be recycled,” Rodridguez said. “Garbage goes into the garbage bin and anything else goes into a separate receptacle. We separate the trash everyday.”

However, many teachers believe that the school doesn’t properly recycle. Some teachers explained that they take recycling into their own hands by taking their plastics home. 

“I take my recycling home with me,” Tech Drawing teacher, Doug Johnson, said. “From what I heard the county does not recycle.” 

Physical Education teacher, Ashley Heyden, believes that our recycling doesn’t stop at the blue bin.

“As a nation we send it off to other countries,” Heyden said.

“It’s never picked up,” Accounting teacher Yvonne Mullins said. “The Earth Club, run by Scot Burns, should do it.  Let it be known, no recycling happens in this school.”

In school, every classroom is to be equipped with at least one trash can and one bright blue recycling bin. After observing 45 classrooms, about 24 of them had both a trash can and a blue recycling bin. The other 21 of them only had a trashcan and no recycling bin. 

“Several years back, Midlo attempted to host a recycle program,” Principal Dr. Abel said. “Unfortunately, so many people threw trash into the recycle bins, we stopped the program. As a result, we only recycle the larger and obvious items, such as newspapers, cardboard, cans, and bottles.”