Students' bill to be law

A private member's bill authored by Georgetown District High School's Geography Club is one step closer to becoming a law. The bill, which calls for two recycling bins-- one for paper and the other for drinking containers-- in every Ontario classroom is being sponsored by the Liberals. The bill was the brainchild of the club as part of the CBC series Queen's Park: Making the Grade. The ongoing series last fall followed the efforts of dozens of schools as they came up with ideas for private member's bills. The more than 100 bill suggestions were taken to the three political parties at Queen's Park and after reviewing them the parties agreed to bring forward three of them, one for each party. This spring the bills will be introduced, and called for a special second reading debate. Laura Hudgin, the GDHS teacher who oversees the school's geography club, is excited the students' bill will be going forward. "It was a big surprise knowing the Liberals were going to sponsor us," said Hudgin. She believed the bill, however, could garner support because it was a good idea. The bill also calls for accessible recycling facilities (like the ones seen in malls clearly indicating what materials are acceptable) in school cafeterias. Along with the idea accepted for the series the students submitted several other bill ideas including limiting the number of garbage bags per household, creating more greenbelts around the GTA, and charging a fee per garbage bag pick-up to help deter landfill waste. Kevin Robbie, a 14-year-old Grade 9 GDHS student in the Geography Club, was thrilled the bill is being sponsored. "It's a little bit surprising," said Robbie. "When I found out I was screaming for about five minutes." "People need to start recycling now, we do throw out a lot of garbage," he said. In an effort to drum up interest in the series and promote the recycling bill CBC News at Six plans to do a live broadcast from Georgetown District High School sometime in early April, a date has not been confirmed yet.