Plastic has always had a lasting negative impact on our society. It doesn’t decompose quickly after it’s thrown away, which makes it bad for the environment. It can end up in our ecosystem and cause problems for the wildlife there. Water dispensers are one way we can help to stop the spread of plastic in our world.

 “This your world now, it is your footprint,” said John Gray, the maintenance supervisor here at HBHS. Kids need to be mindful of how they are affecting the environment by using too much plastic. One way the kids at HBHS could start to fix this problem is to use the water bottle refill stations that were recently installed (gifted from the class of 2017). These refill stations help to decrease the amount of plastic waste that is going into the environment. On the side of the machine, you can see how many plastic water bottles are saved when filling the bottles and they are a great alternative to the regular water fountains available at HBHS. They help to fill a student’s 

“It’s a lot easier to use them than water fountains– you have to fill your water bottle at a certain angle,” said Alexandra Mills ‘22. Water fountains in themselves have proven to be hazards as kids often aren’t careful when they are trying to fill up their water bottles, and spill water all over the floor, leading to potential slips or falls.

HBHS would really benefit from the increased usage of  bottle refill stations. They would help kids to understand that they are negatively impacting their environment when they use plastic and they can do their part to cut down on plastic waste when they use the water bottle refill stations.

“ [I] definitely believe that it helps reduce plastic use in our school,” said Trudi Thompson, an anatomy and biology teacher at HBHS.  If kids at HBHS used less plastic, then they would start to realize that there was a positive change in our community. The destruction to the environment caused by plastic is abundant at this point and students should do whatever they can to resolve the issue.