By the end of this year, waste may be reduced tremendously at South because of  two Green Tiger projects. Green Tigers is a club that strives to, “promote environmentalism and environmental justice in not only the south community but in the world,” according to sophomore and Green Tigers member Kendra Roedl. If all goes according to plan, the two new additions to South will be hydration stations and paper waste awareness stickers on the paper towel dispensers. The two projects are intended to heighten awareness of conservation and how to avoid misuse of everyday products.

 The hydration station will be connected to water fountains and will provide students with fresh, cool, water for their water bottles. Some hydration stations will even tell you how many plastic water bottles you are saving.

 “Seeing how many disposable water bottles we use, it’s kind of depressing. Like when you tell students to fill up their water bottles in the water fountain some kids don’t,” explained Roedl, “if it’s filtered and chilled that might have a draw of more appeal to it.”

“We want a hydration station mostly because we want to reduce the use of plastic water bottles,” added Senior Tahlia Simon, “It’s just a better thing to do for the Earth. So, we are applying for grants and maybe selling reusable water bottles.”

The Green Tigers are applying for the Hype Grant and the South High Foundation Grant. They are also planning on fundraising either by selling reusable water bottles, hosting an event such as a dodgeball tournament, or selling tee-shirts.

“These are all ideas floating around because [hydration stations] are 1,500 dollars a piece,” explained junior Becca Krasky, “I think we want at least two.”

Along with fundraising for the hydration stations, the Green Tigers are also trying to reduce paper towel waste at South High. According to Simon, South has to order paper towel rolls every three weeks.

“People always take way more than they need to. There is a reason why they come out in portions, you should only take one,” explained Roedl.

In order to reduce paper towel waste, the Green Tigers have decided to order free stickers from the “These Come From Trees Blog” that say “Remember… These Come From Trees.” According to the blog, one sticker can save a tree’s worth of paper which is 100 pounds of paper.

 “It’s a subconscious thing,” clarified Simon, “People see the sticker and they don’t really think about it, but they use less paper.”

After the implementation of the stickers, the Green Tigers plan on talking to the engineers to see whether the stickers facilitated a decrease in the amount of paper towel rolls being ordered for the school.

Krasky hopes that, “the student body supports these goals to reduce our consumption of energy.”