Every morning, the campus of Channel Islands is spotless. There are no chicken sandwich wrappers, no milk cartons, no juice boxes, no ketchup packets. Yet as soon as students are given food, the campus is filled with food and litter.
After nutrition, the cleanliness of the campus disappears as trash from breakfast is left on tables or tossed onto the floor. Once the bell rings, a team of staff walk around campus picking up the trash students decide to leave behind despite there being roughly 70 trash cans on campus, excluding the ones in classrooms and in the cafeteria.
“It’s not that hard walking up to a trash can considering there are multiple on campus,” said student Eliza Springer.
The same exact thing happens during lunch, except the amount of trash left on the floor and tables escalates. Not only is trash left from food found, but food itself ends up being tossed on the ground. Ketchup packets end up getting splattered on the floor as students step on them which stains the campus grounds.
Of course, the seagulls cannot be forgotten. Due to the amount of food being left behind, many seagulls make an appearance on campus. During break, lunch, and passing periods, colonies of seagulls will fly over Channel Islands. Many times the food-seeking birds will leave their droppings on campus while flying, causing many students to cover their heads to protect themselves from getting pooped on. The seagulls will often be seen attacking and fighting for food left on the floor. Not only does this show how much students waste, but it harms the seagulls that end up swallowing plastic and unhealthy foods.
“In a matter of two meal sessions there’s litter everywhere; it’s really disheartening,” said Ms. Marianne Ramos, principal here at Channel Islands.
The mess left by students does not magically disappear over the course of a class period nor overnight; it is cleaned up by the hardworking staff. The teams of people who clean and care for our campus, as Ms. Ramos said. These custodians and other staff work behind the scenes to not only clean each classroom, clean bathrooms, but they also clean up after students
This major problem has a very simple solution as Ms. Ramos mentioned. In fact, it could be resolved in one day. All students need to do is simply throw away their own trash. Litter only gets on the floor because students decide not to pick it up and put it in a trash can.
“If everyone understands that they are responsible for themselves, and they care for themselves and their community, then the litter will be nonexistent,” said Ms. Ramos.
