Recycling Club Goes Green :::
LT Goes Green
Lyons Township High School is doing its part to “go green.” The LTHS Recycling Cub,
with sponsors Will Meuer and Tom Swiontek, are attempting to boost the district’s paper recycling.
Their goal is to recycle more than one ton of paper at each campus every month.
According to American Forest & Paper Association more than 50 percent of the paper used
in the U.S. each year is recovered for recycling. That’s 342 pounds for every man, woman, and child
in the country. Furthermore, every day American businesses use enough paper to circle the globe 20
times, and every ton of paper recovered for recycling saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
District 204 residents interested in helping LT reach its recycling goal are encouraged to
drop off their colored or plain paper (staples, paperclips and spirals are acceptable), magazines,
newspapers and mail at either campus recycling retriever. Cardboard is discouraged.
The bright yellow and green Abitibi recycling retrievers are easily recognizable. At North
Campus the retriever is located on Park Rd. adjacent to the loading dock, and at South Campus the
retriever can be found at the west end of the south parking lot.
While there is a minimal financial incentive if LT exceeds a minimum of paper, environmental
incentives are driving the recycling drive. By keeping paper out of the landfills, more paper is
recycled and fewer trees have to be cut down to make new paper, which means less overall air
pollution. Plus, institutions that have efficient recycling programs cut down on their costs for
trash removal.
“LT will truly become greener once we get our students and teachers into the habit of
recycling paper,” said Will Meuer. “We also hope to establish a plastic and aluminum recycling
program – the Club’s next area of focus for improvement,” he added.