Ms. Corrine Yahn’s AP Environmental Science class got its hands dirty playing with other people’s trash last week for a school project.

Yahn’s project was to have students define and classify the trash at a Greeley West High School lunch to determine how much plastic and trash students threw away each day.  Basically, the goal was to see how West could be more sustainable in its lunch-time waste.  Yahn hoped students would learn more about waste by doing a hands-on activity.

Sophomore Serena Phillips was amazed at what turned up in her trash can.  “We found out how much could be recycled and got to see what percentage of recyclables are in the trash around the school,” Phillips said.and Alexa youngblood

Junior Alexa Youngblood agreed and added that that AP project helped students find the source of the trash.  “One of the benefits was seeing the main sources of student trash are plastic and food,” Youngblood said.

The hands on nature of the project interested the students, who were happy to get a break from pen and paper activities.  Phillips said it wasn’t about liking or hating the project, but about the learning that occurred in it.