Twelve times around the school. Almost 13.
Earth Day here in Amherst was given more than its due by students at West Highlands Elementary. The students made a school-wide initiative to bring in as many grocery bags as they could. The reason, they learned, was the amount of waste plastic bags produce.
“This was a national challenge. The Recycling Council of Ontario and Walmart partnered together and asked us to collect as many as we could so they don’t wind up in the landfill,” West Highlands faculty Collen Gainham said. “What Walmart has agreed to do, with all of the bags collected, they are going to make sure they are shipped off and recycled so they can be used again.”
During the collection, students learned a year’s worth of plastic waste can circle around the Earth seven times.
On a rather windy Apr. 24, the students gathered in the gymnasium to learn the collectively collected over 17,616 grocery bags this year. The leading classroom collectors were cheered on for this year’s efforts before everyone moved outdoors to work together and find out how many bags tied together it took to encircle the school just once. That number was then divided into their total to come up with home many times the plastic waste they have prevented from going into the environment could encircle their school.
All totalled, the students of West Highland collected enough waste to circle around their school 12.7 times.
