We can’t live on Mars (yet), soEarth is our only option. To be truthful, the third planet from the sun is as good as it gets. It provides us with water, oxygen, food, really everything essential for basic human-living. This world of ours gives and gives and us humans take and take—but we do not take care. One of the simplest acts to help the Earth is to recycle yet the landfills continue to build up with reusable goods.

Plastic, paper and aluminum are common recyclable goods. I see all of these on a day to day basis—unfortunately, too often in the trash. Companies don’t put the recycling symbol on items for people to throw them away.

I go to restaurants, grocery stores and homes that all encourage this earth-saving act. Even Chipotle has different recycling bins for different scraps. Recycling is emboldened almost everywhere I go; except for school.

I see students with sodas and energy drinks in their hands. A plastic water bottle in the side pocket of their backpack. Not to mention wrappers of snacks as well. All of these recyclables yet I see very few recycling bins. At Millard West, we have bins that are under two feet tall and maybe a foot in width which are scattered sparsely. This seems quite underwhelming for the amount of papers and cans that students throw away.

I’ve been known to take home items to recycle since there is no recycling bin in sight around school. But there are trash cans in every other corner. Some classrooms even have multiple trash cans. Or the worst is when students take advantage of the closest waste bin and use that to dispose of something. Please enlighten me on why there is a Pepsi can in the bin for papers. I will go as far to take items out of bins or the trash can to ensure everything is in the correct bin. It really is not rocket science: paper goes with paper and plastic goes with plastic—it’s as simple as that.

Making simple changes such as replacing one of the lunch trash cans with a recycling bin in the same area could cause a chain reaction to recycle. Not everything after lunch has to go completely to waste.It is a shame to see all the soda cans and plastic wrappers and bottles be dumped into the trash when they aren’t really classified as garbage.

If there was more availability for recycling, more people would partake in this earthly doing, and I wouldn’t feel the need to take everything home to ensure it won’t go to a trash compost site.

It may not seem like one water bottle will make a difference, but it does. We have one earth. Use it wisely. We can’t take advantage of the only planet that is habitable because we don’t have a second option.