AbbyMcGuire

In an era of change and a lack of transparency, protecting the planet is sometimes lost in the midst.

The Marian community suffered the ramifications of secrecy when the Orange Bag recycling program was revealed to be no longer feasible- a tragedy to the sustainability initiatives the administration and the Sustainability Club had been pursuing since 2023.

This issue isn’t unique to Marian, though. Recycling bags have been a subject of controversy. Recently, the Hefty brand and their parent company Reynolds Consumer Products have been at the epi-center of these discussions. 

Topclassactions.com revealed that Hefty, the main manufacturer of these “recycling trash bags” was sued in 2023, and they were punished with a $3 million fine, “according to plaintiffs in the case, Reynolds misled consumers to believe that its recycling trash bags were recyclable. Despite these claims, the “recycling” bags allegedly can not be recycled in waste disposal facilities.” 

Hefty has denied these claims, and the court has not made a decision about the validity of the claims. Either way, this has presented a problem for places, like Marian, that utilize the orange bags in their recycling efforts. 

When it comes to Marian, the problem was misconstrued, and confusion spread around campus like a pandemic at the end of the first semester.

Mrs. Alee Cotton, the Sustainability Club co-moderator, broke down the intricacies of the orange bag issue, “ …within Omaha, there are two companies that process recycling. There is First Star Fiber, and then there is another company called Nebraska Land…family homes all process through First Star Fiber, which is great. That means you can do orange bag recycling in your home, and it will be turned into patio furniture…So what we discovered last semester was that Marian’s recycling company, and really almost all commercial recycling in Omaha, is processed through this other company, not First Star, and they could no longer take the Hefty renew recyclables.”

Illustrations by Abby McGuire

It was a confusing time- and since Omaha only offers two options for recyclable disposal, Cotton, had to weigh the future options. However, the students became confused and felt misledwhen work study students discovered the orange bags laying in the outside landfill dumpsters. There were a lot of questions, and a lack of answers. 

Cotton shed some light on the situation, “…we needed to find another way to get that recycling to First Star…we could no longer just take it to our recycling dumpster outside of the kitchen and get it where it needed to go. So we just needed a little bit of time to plan out logistics… so while we were working through that process, we were- for a very short- time having to toss the orange recycling,” Cotton said.

There was no place for the recycling to go, so it was placed in the dumpster for a short period of time last semester. Once the orange bags returned to the classrooms this changed and the recyclables are once again being recycled. 

Orange bag recyclable materials include all flimsy plastic packaging, plastic bags and wraps, and foam packaging. Each classroom and office is still gathering other recyclables in the green bins. Cotton wants to remind students that this program is the same one as they had before- everything that used to go into the orange bags still does. 

The Sustainability Club has had their fair share of disappointments- the orange bag issue being the latest. However, the only way for them to enact the change they want is to continue moving forward, and the club has faced many successes in the past two years. 

“I think they [Sustainability Club] have had great success in training students and making them more aware of our environment and all the things they can do. I think that is an exact example of empowerment, especially since they have gotten the school to go along with it…it’s very impressive what they have been able to accomplish and it has been student run,” Principal Dr. Susie Sullivan said. 

Now, Sullivan urges students to reconnect with their community and pay attention to the happenings around them. 

“It would be great if you as a collective school would really pay attention to this and go for this…I’m all for initiatives, but it has to be student-run, and students have to want it……lots of little things add up to making a big difference. So you may not be recycling every single thing at your house, but when you come here, you’re going to do that, and it’s going to be a difference maker,” Sullivan said. 

The first take at the  Student and parent volunteers will be taking the new and improved orange bags to First Star Fiber to ensure they are dealt with properly. These orange bags look different for a reason- the Sustainability Club is no longer using the Hefty orange bags, they are simply using recyclable orange bags.

They decided to do this as to not confuse students about what recyclables go where, which would backpedal the sustainability initiatives even farther. Marian is still zero waste, and Cotton and Sullivan are determined to not lose that status, illustrating that the administration is determined to continue supporting recycling, sustainability and student advocates. 

Times may seem overwhelming and hopeless as American society changes. However, there is hope-and that hope will start in Marian’s orange bags and compost initiative.