For years, teacher Mr. Galietta and the boys’ soccer team handled the paper recycling at BPHS; however, they were recently told that the High School would no longer be collecting papers to recycle due to problems with the recent dumpster company not fulfilling their duties. What’s going on?

BPHS’ recycling club started about nine years ago when Mr. Galietta brought the boys’ soccer team together in his efforts to make a difference in both the school and the environment. His goal was to find another solution to all the paper waste in the High School.

“When I started it (the recycling club) with the soccer team, I thought it was a complete win-win,” Mr. Galietta said.

When the club first started in its efforts, everything was going quite smoothly. Every classroom had a recycling bin which the soccer team went around weekly, if not daily, to collect, and the original recycling company, Abitibi, was cooperating as well.

Galietta mentioned that any time the dumpsters got full, he was able to “dial up” the company and they would come within a day or two with a truck to pick up the paper. Currently, nobody seems to be picking up the piled-high dumpster, even with weeks and months of prior notice.

“Now what happened is that the paper commodity market fell big time…” Galietta said.

“… and Abitibi went bankrupt, so they sold the company. Subsequently, the company has been sold about three or four times now.

“I can’t even remember the name of the company that technically owns those dumpsters now,” Galietta said.

Apparently, these new companies that have taken over are not fulfilling their duties like Abitibi used to. Since last year, Galietta and the soccer team have been faced with this issue and have been working to find an actual answer.

“We (Galietta and the BPHS facilities custodian Mr. Keith) called and they seemed to be picking up. This year before winter recess, the paper was piling up and piling up and piling up, and I would get emails all the time from staff saying ‘can you please empty our paper?’

“The dumpsters were so full and we couldn’t do anything. We called more and they still weren’t coming. So I let my boss Dr. J. know: ‘…listen we’re not ignoring this, but the company is not responding,'” Galietta said.

However, the club continued to collect papers for awhile until it was physically impossible to do so.

“In the interim, at one point, I came back and our custodial staff took all the papers and boxes and dumped them all. Basically, we got the word that we really aren’t going do it anymore because that company just won’t pick the paper up.

“I just felt bad because people were constantly emailing me and I would say, ‘Please be patient. We will get to it as soon as we can. There’s just nowhere to put it…,'” Galietta said.

After nine continuous years of the club’s efforts, the recycling at BPHS is currently at a standstill until further notice. Galietta and the soccer team definitely did have and still do have an enormous impact on the High School’s culture. They paved the path for being more environmentally friendly and demonstrated how a little bit can go a long way.