Columbus School 12th-grade students taught K4 students the importance of recycling and how to do it and presented the results of their project last Friday in the Intermediate Coliseum.

Maria Luisa Arango, Maria Luna Mora, Cristina Sierra, and Mariana Gonzalez, taught K4 students as part of a social service English project stressing the importance of recycling and the impact that the proper use of each trash can, can have in preserving the environment.

“For us, it’s important to share our knowledge with the whole school and make sure that the future generations of our school will find a way to make the school more sustainable and green so that the environment is a more suitable environment for a better ecosystem and life,” Gonzalez said.

The purpose of the 12th grader’s project is to correct the problems the school is facing due to incorrect usage of the recycling bins found throughout campus. Their strategy was to begin from the bottom up, by starting with the youngest generation in school, K4 students.

“Kids their age most of the time do not understand that the world is facing many environmental issues and that if they recycle they can make a change in the environment,” Arango said.

The K4 project was based on teaching students to realize and understand which trash can is used for each type of waste by helping them learn which color matches the type of garbage being thrown away.

“It is important for the youngest generation of the school learn that recycling is important, for example, they need to know that when recycling cans, bottles, and paper they are helping the environment and reducing waste,” Arango said.

The 12th graders first explained which waste goes in which trash can and which products are recycled to be turned into new materials and products. Then they did an activity in which they gave the students a sample of products and they had to choose the correct trash can to deposit them. The final activity was a competition between 2 classes in which both classes went outside to the playground and collected bottle caps and the class that collected more bottle caps won.

“Recycling is collecting bottle caps and other trash and putting them in the correct trash.” Jacobo Betancourt, K4 E student, said.