A short walk through the parking lot guarantees you see trash. The Johnston administration is prioritizing litter cleanup, encouraging students to do the same. 

Littering is extremely bad for the environment and pollutes our drinking water, according to www.iowadnr.gov, there is over 2.8 million tons of solid waste per year in Iowa alone. 

“Be respectful of the campus, isn’t a good look for the school, remember trash in the environment has an impact on water and wildlife,” said Kyla Burns, current associate principal and prior AP environmental science.

Littering isn’t just something that can be fixed with a snap of a finger, all of it falls onto the janitors. Making janitors take hours out of their day to pick up trash outside when they could be doing more important things is disrespectful.

“Trash in the parking lot takes up janitors’ time that they could be using somewhere else or to clean up the school” said Will Barnhil 25’.

The school is looking into ways to make the process easier for students who want to help throw away trash in the parking lot. One of these ideas was to put trash cans on poles to make it more accessible for students, but there are some downsides to this concept.

“It costs money, cars might bump into them, they could blow over, and janitors would have to swap them out,” Said Burns.

It only takes a little time out of your day to keep the environment clean, keep the school’s reputation intact and make the janitor’s job easier.