Concern for the environment can be seen around town, from Bow Elementary School up through the high school. Students are showing concern for the planet in a variety of ways in the classrooms.

For his senior project, Bow High School student Ryan Obolewicz focused on recycling at his school. He got containers for plastic recyclables and helped follow through on an idea that’s been tried before.

“It’s actually been an attempted senior project in previous years, and I figured I could be the guy to get it started and put it together,” said Obolewicz. “It was kind of other people’s ideas that I thought I could do better.”

Dee Treybig, a Recycling Committee member who helped the senior during his research, said the recycling initiative was overdue.

“They were worried about sustaining the program, but if you go into the high school you won’t believe the volume,” said Treybig.

In addition to Obolewicz’ efforts, Bow High School senior Zack Daniels, whose mother is a former Recycling Committee member, found a way to contribute as well.

For his senior project, Daniels started a composting effort in town, selling compost bins and using school kitchen scraps as compost.

His efforts will continue next year, as the committee hopes to build compost bins at all of the schools by the end of the summer, Treybig said.

“I’m very impressed and very excited. Right now, Bow only has a recycling rate of 21 percent,” Treybig said. “Bow can do better. We’re an intelligent, educated and involved community. Why can’t we do any better than that? It’s not like we don’t know better or have the means to buy a bin to collect recyclables. It’s just pure education.”

The recycling efforts aren’t only happening at the high school level, as Bow Elementary School students have picked up the cause, too.

In Patti Lally’s second-grade classroom, students are going green, earning points when they bring in snacks that come in a container able to be brought home and washed, rather than thrown away.

“Isn’t it wonderful? With the younger kids it can be all about me, me, me. What I enjoy seeing at this level is that the kids are becoming more wordly, coming out of that me-mode and seeing there is a big world,” said Treybig.

“To see that develop and have them take a role is very heartwarming. You love to see them as a young adult instead of a child.”

Treybig said beginning the recycling process at an early age is crucial.

“It’s critical. Teaching people new things at an older age is hard. If you create recyclers at a young age, it becomes a way of life,” she said. “It’s just something you do, not a new routine you need to get down.”

After only a few months as a member of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association’s School Recycling Club, Bow High School is set to earn a bronze award for its efforts.

“They’re really making a huge difference. The largest businesses in Bow with the most waste are the schools,” said Treybig. “The (Bow Recyling) committee is very appreciative of their efforts.”