A recycling bin at Los Gatos High School is shown locked on Dec, 14, 2023. The school only recycles paper, not other materials required by state law. Editor’s Note: This article was written for Mosaic Vision, an independent journalism training program for high school students who report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists.
The school’s non-recycling stance contradicts California’s recycling laws. When the state’s Mandatory Commercial Recycling law took effect in June, 2012, public entities that generated a specified threshold of solid waste were required to “reuse, recycle, compost, or otherwise divert solid waste from disposal,” according to CalRecycle, the state entity responsible for recycling.
Despite acknowledging his familiarity with Senate Bill 1383, the state’s recycling legislation, Principal Kevin Buchanan stands firmly behind the school’s policy of non-compliance. “I occasionally notice one or two with missing locks and I put in a work order to have them replaced,” he said. Some students feel that the school could comply with recycling laws if it did a more aggressive job of educating students about what to recycle and how to properly do it.
While some area schools have much more efficient recycling programs, the students have similar attitudes. Evergreen Valley High School Student Minh-Khang Le thinks his San Jose school’s program, which involves recycling bins that easily divide waste into trash recycling and composting, does a good job. However, he thinks that more people should be better educated on recycling, saying “some students don’t think too much about it and put everything in a nearby bin that looks like trash.”.