Ward Melville Takes Eco-Friendly Strides

Grace Zhao, Staff Writer

One of the many new recycling bins in Ward Melville's halls.
One of the many new recycling bins in Ward Melville’s halls.

Walking through the crammed hallways of Ward Melville High School, one may notice the dozens of recycling bins propped against the walls, filled with bottles and cans. Ward Melville High School is striving to create a more eco-friendly school environment, and the promotion of plastic recycling is one of the many steps that our high school has taken over the past few years to accomplish this.

“We have a big push towards recycling,” Mr. Owen, assistant principal, said. “In addition to recycling bins, we try not to print a lot of things.” The principle method of communication is now electronic.

The school also recently installed a new water bottle refillingstation in the cafeteria which can fill up bottles, reducing the amount of plastic wasted. Rather than buy another disposable plastic bottle, people can now fill up old ones with water that is cool and purified. The system also displays a counter with the number of plastic bottles saved because of the new refilling station.

“Yeah, I prefer the new water system over the old one.” Anika Quadr, junior, said. “Although I don’t see many people using the new one either.”

“It’s nice to have a place to fill up our water bottles,” sophomore Daryn Mackenzie said. “We all know the regular water fountains are kinda gross.” Many students do not use the water fountains in the hallways because they are not working properly or seem unhygienic.
Ward Melville has taken eco-friendly strides in building structures and heating systems as well. Thermal windows that are more efficient than single pane windows have been installed, in addition to high-efficiency boilers that burn both gas and oil. These boilers heat the entire school, an enormous feat as Ward Melville covers over 300,000 square feet. They are currently the largest go-green structure that the high school supports.

Ward Melville will continue to support new environmental projects, and is looking to a greener future. As pollution increases, our school offers more and more ways to help limit pollution. So the next time you have an empty plastic bottle, consider what else you can do with it before you just toss it away.