Walking through the hallways after lunch at WCHS is a hazard. Food wrappers, lunch trays and even food scraps are left strewn around the halls where students sit during lunch. To combat this, WCHS is introducing a robot with a trash can, which can be ordered to come to a student’s location through a free app.
WCHS junior Trashie Hals has personally seen students leave their trash on the floor during lunch and knows the extent of the issue. Many students like Hals are hopeful that these robots can improve this issue and have the school looking spotless.
“It makes me uneasy to see students feel that they can just leave their trash on the floor and walk away,” Hals said. “Walking through the halls and seeing disgusting food scraps left everywhere diminishes my school pride. While it is the responsibility of the students to pick up their trash and throw it out, having the robot come to them does help ensure our school is clean.”
WCHS fashion teacher Mrs. Tiffany Carmi feels similarly about the trash situation. She believes students should feel more responsible for taking care of their school and picking up their trash because it doesn’t create a clean environment.
“We mainly get trash left all over the place during lunch because students are too lazy to pick it up,” Carmi said. “You can look almost anywhere in the school; they just don’t pick up their trash. There’s no accountability and no expectations set to picking up your trash. It doesn’t matter how many trash cans are out, we just get up and think someone will do it for us.”
The robot operates through an app called “Trash Bot”, which is free for students to download and log in to with the given school code, CLEANUP. Once they request the robot come to them, the app uses the student’s location to send the robot directly to the student. The robots have a first come, first serve process, serving students based on the order they call them.
“The traveling trash can is a genius idea,” Hals said. “Not only can students that order it use it, but if a student sees the trash can moving in the hallway, they could put their trash in it too. It’s also just fun to see a robot trashcan moving around in your school halls.”
Carmi, who has her room open during lunch, also deals with her classroom piled with trash after lunch. She hopes that students who sit in her classroom will start to throw their trash out themselves when the robot trashcan comes to them.
“Usually my room has a lot of people sitting in it for lunch, so I have to go and clean it up after,” Carmi said. “Hopefully, with the robot coming right up to students, they can just pile their trash into the can and it’s all out of my room.”
Overall, Hals feels that the trash has so far helped improve not only the cleanliness of WCHS but also school pride, as the building feels well-kept and helps students with the responsibility of cleaning up.
“Whoever came up with the trash idea, props to them,” Hals said. “I have already seen a difference in how the halls are looking; there is barely any trash left on the floors anymore. It’s also nice to see students enjoying throwing out their trash because a cool robot gets to come to them.”
