Imagine you have a chance to fix a problem at your high school. What would you fix?

Three McKinley High School seniors decided to distribute recycling bins throughout campus to increase recycling awareness. The project first started when Alan Sekiguchi told his class to find a problem at MHS and fix it.

“We walked around campus and noticed recyclables thrown all over the place,” Kia Agustin said.

Agustin and her classmates Jhonatan Nagasako and Tyler Guieb soon began making arrangements to have recycling bins on campus. From the beginning, Principal Ron Okamura liked the idea but had some concerns.

“The main issue with Mr. Okamura,” said Agustin, “was that the homeless would come and take the recyclables. And having homeless (on campus) isn’t safe.”

After agreeing that the bins should be located inside buildings rather than out, Okamura authorized the plan. Next, the three contacted the City and County via e-mail, asking for assistance in obtaining bins for our school. The City and County gave the bins for free, said Agustin.

After the school got the eight bins, Lester Higa created the graphic art stickers decorating the bins. This recycling project started in the third quarter, and a letter was sent to all clubs asking for assistance in maintaining the bins. Each club is assigned to empty the bins weekly. The money that the bins collect will be equally distributed among the clubs that volunteered. Clubs such as the Leo, Filipino, Japanese, Dance and Go Green have since signed up to participate.

So far, 11 big black trash bags have been collected. Even after the creators of this project are gone, they want the recycling bins to remain on campus as long as possible. So, they have turned the task over to the Go Green Club.