Old, crumpled sheets of previous homework assignments, milk cartons, gum wrappers, and hallway passes⸺these are only a few of the items found strewn around the school during a typical school year, according to the head of PMHS custodial services, J.B. Jackson.

This results in trash-flooded parking lots and hallways, custodians agreed.

However Jackson says students are taking a step in the right direction so far this school year.

“It is only the beginning,” says Jackson. “I hope it stays the way it has been within the last few days, though; students aren’t making as much of a mess on the inside, in the hallways, yet.”

Of thirty random students surveyed-— 89 percent either don’t litter or don’t anymore. Many said they never found it a “big deal.” Its effect on their future never crossed their minds, they say.

It’s not just students who litter, Jackson says. Teachers, staff, visitors to athletic events– multiple people drop their gum wrappers in hallways.

Students tend to leave lots of messes in the cafeteria during lunch, Jackson and many students agree. They have also observed classmates tossing food on the floor or flinging carrots at one another. Shar says she’s caught students in past school years laughing and throwing food around just to make more messes for student workers to clean. These students are part of the school’s special education department and learn cooking and cleaning skills designed to help them get a job after graduation.

Principal Kert Boedicker has been monitoring students who try to leave their trash for others to throw away.

“I wish they did it on their own, but so far he has been making them clean it up themselves, which it makes it easier for us custodians,” Jackson says.

Not all students leave their trash behind. A few students have taken initiative on their own to help keep the school looking good.

 “I have noticed all the littering that goes on,” says junior Abby Hoover. “I pick up trash in the cafeterias whenever I see it because it is so disrespectful to make janitors clean up things that we could easily do.”

Sophomore Faith Brown says students need to stop and think before tossing that water bottle or trash out a window.

“I think if anyone needs motivation to stop littering, it’s becoming aware of what it does to the environment,” she says. “We always see all these pictures of people exploring nature and taking beautiful pictures of the ocean, but it’s all being taken away from us when people continuously trash the earth and community around us.”

The school only offers recycling bins for paper, despite a 2016 FOCUS editorial calling for plastic recycling bins to be added throughout the school.

The student environmental club gathers members to pick up trash during the week of homecoming festivities to assure the school and parking lot are at their best for the week of fun.

The club would like to do more to combat littering within the community this year, but nothing is planned yet, says new environmental club president, senior Moid Ali.

Jackson says he would welcome help from the environmental club members, both in picking up trash and emphasizing to fellow students that littering is bad–particularly those students who leave in the middle of the day.

When it comes to the trash on the outside property, it isn’t a big problem, but could still be reduced, says Jackson.

“They just dump out trash from their cars. I see it everyday. It is like they have no respect; someone else is cleaning all of that up,” he says.

Jackson, who has worked for Perry ? years, says littering is easy to stop.

“All I can tell students is to use the trash cans and recycling bins provided.There are literally trash cans in every classroom, in the halls, and outside. Throw your trash away.”