The young generation in La Mesa is getting down to keep the Earth green. 

Helix Charter High School has collaborated with I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) to initiate a new recycling program (started on Jan. 23 of this year), supported by grant funding from the City of La Mesa. The driving force behind this program is the passing of Senate Bill 1383, which requires schools to implement three waste streams: recycling, organics, and trash.

ILACSD has been dedicated to improving the local environment for almost 70 years, and their nonprofit is on a mission to create zero-waste lifestyles and zero-litter throughout San Diego County. 

“ILACSD is a trusted leader with longstanding experience in mobilizing schools and students to engage in meaningful environmental action,” said Kelsey Corbran, the sustainable system coordinator at ILACSD.

The school aimed to contribute to sustainability through recycling for the past decade but couldn’t achieve long-term success. 

“In the Spring of 2023, our facilities staff added recycling bins across the campus. However, there wasn’t a campus-wide educational effort that coincided with the change,” mentioned Kevin Myron, the sustainability coordinator and AP environmental science teacher.

Students also emphasize the necessity of extensive education. 

Norah Dahlkamp, a student, expressed, “The first in-depth education around the topic of recycling was in an elementary school assembly. Since then, I have only been taught about it once more in my AP environmental science class. Both of these experiences were extremely helpful and educational. However, I do believe that, in order to build a more successful waste disposal system, it must be widely taught and implemented.”

Bins and recycling to create seven new waste sorting stations across the campus were arranged with the funding from the City of La Mesa. The stations include liquids, recycling, compost, landfill, and a shared table for edible food. 

At the same time, ILACSD’s recycling training video was used to educate students on how to properly recycle with the new system and encourage their participation. “We anticipate there being initial challenges for students to sort waste accurately, but hope that over time and with the support of student leadership, it’ll be successful,” said Myron.

As student involvement is crucial in this new program, a newly formed student-led team, the Student Office of Sustainability (SOS), is spearheading changes to reduce the environmental footprint on campus.

Members will help promote and track effectiveness by training students to volunteer as waste observers at sorting stations, gathering data on the most used stations, and more. “As a large high school campus of over 2,000 students, engaging students to be invested is critical to the program’s success. Students seeing students taking the new waste sorting seriously show others its importance,” noted Myron.

SOS is also planning the next step beyond nutrition break and lunchtime by supporting facilities in standardizing the recycling and waste bin set-up throughout classrooms.

The school and ILACSD are expecting this program to jumpstart the sustainability effort. 

“If the students don’t believe that the changes are important or if they don’t understand what is being asked of them, there will be a lot of contamination in the new sorting bins and cause the program to be less successful. Helix will not only be diverting a ton of waste from the landfill, but also fostering a campus culture that values sustainability,” said Corbran.

Helix Charter High School is now reducing its environmental footprint in one step and is ready to empower the community to take action together.