Ridgewood students ask council to fund new trash and recycling bins at Veterans Field

Three Ridgewood High School seniors asked the Ridgewood Village Council on April 2 to fund and install new trash and recycling bins at Veterans Field, saying current receptacles are unevenly distributed, poorly secured and allow litter to blow out.

The students — Danielle Haas Hendricks and Esma (Esma/Esme) Hendrix, both seniors in the AP environmental science class at Ridgewood High School — told the council they surveyed the field, mapped existing cans and proposed adding paired trash and recycling bins at roughly 11 sites, including the bridge entrance and the parking lot. They showed photos of existing cans with holes and no lids and presented a preferred model the school uses that costs about $600 per unit.

The presentation matters because fields used by school teams and community groups often overflow and spread litter; the students said better, paired receptacles placed near entrances should increase proper disposal and make recycling clearer. "Some of them are poorly made and some of them are recycling bins. There might be one," Haas…