South Hadley High School has a problem, and no one’s talking about it. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the town’s Department of Public Works neglected to provide adequate trash cans around campus.
Trash cans are important for maintaining a clean environment for everyone to enjoy. If you’ve been near the turf in the past year or two, you may have noticed trash scattered around. This issue can be easily avoided if trash cans are added in various places, including inside the press box.
Alongside creating a healthier environment for all, trash cans enable people who utilize the campus to be more conscious of where they put their trash since the options are readily available.
The DPW expects many facilities to follow a strict “carry in and carry out” policy.
This is a start to resolving the issue; however, a large portion of individuals utilizing these facilities have chosen not to abide by these policies. A particular consequence for littering could not only result in legal punishment but also in-school punishment. Instead of going down this route, an easier, less resource-intensive workaround would be to install trash cans again.
Some teachers, including high school math teacher Scott Dion, have felt the impact of the lack of trash cans firsthand. He coaches 3rd-grade through 6th-grade students’ sports here in South Hadley. Dion reported that the recreation department had faced challenges with individuals dumping their trash, such as tires and motor oil, in the trash cans at the beach grounds. This is not allowed, ultimately leaving the department in a difficult position as to what to do moving forward.
At some point last year, Dion had the wonderful idea of bringing in a trash bag for the teams to dispose of their trash. However, the Rec Department gave him some negative feedback. Dion was appalled by the matter and took the issue to Ms. Casolari, a South Hadley Selectboard member.
Casolari brought the issue up at a Hybrid Selectboard meeting in early September. The response from one of the spokespeople for the Town of South Hadley was that the trash cans posed an issue for the staff of the DPW’s time and resources, as they had to be emptied multiple times a day. Casolari argued her claim that the lack of trash cans only resulted in more trash getting left around and proposed a new idea that trash cans be installed only during big events and days when the fields would be utilized heavily.
If this does go through, it would be one step closer to solving the overall trash problem around the campus. It’s people like Ms. Casolari and Mr. Dion who speak out about issues that make the community a better place. Make sure that whenever you use a field for any reason, please bring out what you bring in with you. It’s the participation of the community that is going to make this issue come to a complete resolution.
$5,500 is the maximum criminal penalty for littering in Massachusetts. This is just for first-time offenders. Subsequent offenders face fines of up to $15,000! This considerably large penalty makes you think twice about where you dispose of your garbage.
