Mountain Do
Student pair launch recycling campaign at Monument Mountain High

GREAT BARRINGTON - It's not always easy going "green."

Monument Mountain High School students Thalia Kazakos and Shurika Kikuchi saw a garbage problem at their high school - no recycling - so they've been trying to fix it.

They made a video describing the pros about environment-friendly practices and showed it to their school community at the beginning of the year.

They got more than 120 bins and recycling stickers with the help of the Center for Ecological Technology and Guido's Marketplace.

Every day, they and about five other self-proclaimed "garbage pickers" go around sorting through homemade bins of plastic bottles, metal cans and paper. More than 231 cubic feet of material have been collected since the start of the school year.

They audit what they collect, and then Kazakos flips the seat back in her Volvo station wagon, fills it with bags of recyclables, and hauls them across the street to a recycling plant.

The two teens say there's a general consensus at school that recycling's "cool." But they're fighting against what they're told is a lack of funding for a formal school-run recycling program. "The school has not helped us out at all," said Kazakos.

The students make their own pick-up schedules and coordinate collection teams in their "office," an empty locker room shower stall. The school lets them conduct their routine and a couple of parents and teachers also help out, as well as members of the special education department.

Monument Principal Maeve Hitzenbuhler commended the seniors' efforts, as well as the school's participation in the volunteer recycling program. But she said that with a district of more than 660 students and faculty members, it may not be feasible for the school to hire a full-time recycling coordinator to manage the volume.

"This is part of an ongoing education process. We're still working on the logistics and how custodial (workers) would do this during the day," the principal said. She said she hoped some day the school would have a "green" plan, which would include water reclamation and solar panels as well as recycling.

But Kazakos and Kikuchi feel it's not soon enough.

"It's only just becoming a priority," said Kikuchai, noting that the issue will be brought before the school committee in November.

"We're seniors. It's hard to expect kids to do this all on their own," said Kazakos, leaning over a pile of eight bags filled with empty bottles of Vitamin Water and Mountain Dew. "All of this would be thrown away if we didn't do something."