NEW ZEALAND
St Peter’s College has implemented many projects with a focus on sustainability this year. They changed the school bin system and then implemented a programme to inform the staff and students of how the new bin system worked. The school reduced waste to landfill by approx. 1.5 tonnes (Feb 2017 vs. Feb 2018).
Students produced a poster using the packaging and products sold by the school tuckshop to inform students as to the correct bin for each type of waste. The school also began the “Adopt-An-Area” programme where each house was given responsibility for a particular area of the school in the effort to keep the school rubbish free.
Students have also begun a project with the school Edmund Rice group. A raised vegetable bed was installed and worm farms purchased using a grant from Auckland Council. The vegetables grown will be donated to the Auckland City Mission.
Lastly, the school introduced a Golden Ticket promotion: In an attempt to get students to actually notice litter, “Golden Tickets” containing various prizes were hidden around the school at rubbish “hotspots”.
MALTA
Gozo College Middle School started the Campaign with a clean-up in Gozo where students became more aware of the amounts of litter in the area. Articles about the clean-up were published in local newspapers (see e.g. Times of Malta) and students were invited on local TV programmes.
The school also focused on how to reduce waste by reusing materials for various items. The students in Year 7 and Year 8 brought used glass jars to be reused in school. These students were involved in making carob syrup and reused glass jars and other items for packaging during the school year. Hardly any new material was used for the whole project in packaging the products produced by the students themselves. Used wooden boxes from shops were used to hold jars in. The packaging was designed by the students themselves making use only of old/used materials.
The eco-school committee has teamed up with all year 7 students and through an entrepreneurship project worked on Green Business with the main aim being that of reducing litter. Recycled materials such as glass jars, milk cartons, tin lids, glass bottles and wood pellets were transformed into innovative useful products.
Last but not least, all students, teachers and school staff were given a free stainless steel travel cup to use instead of disposable cups, both for cold and hot drinks, therefore saving the production of disposable cups, as well as helping to reduce litter. The travel cups were sponsored by the Litter Less funds.
ROMANIA
All the stages of the campaign were very interesting and stimulating, but the most memorable moment was the dissemination of the campaign’s products towards the children's parents and representatives of the local community. Each of the participants presented his product to the audience, he/she explained how he/she made it and on what purpose. The students were very enthusiastic in teaching their parents the lesson of saving nature by collecting waste material selectively and presenting them the real damage caused to the environment by careless people. They showed to the audience the results of their investigation and the solutions they proposed. The photos, models, clothes made from waste material and articles were very appreciated by the parents and the representatives of the local community and the children were very proud of their work.
ROMANIA
COMMUNITY ACTION DAY AT THE “MIHAI EMINESCU” GYMNASIUM SCHOOL IN ROMAN
The dissemination of the Litter Less Campaign took place in the school and in the local community on 28th of March 2017. The activity was held in the school's festivity hall.
All the 53 students involved, organized in 17 teams, the 3 coordinators, the school principal, the teachers, parents, as well as pupils from other classes that were interested in the project, participated in the community action day.
The Litter Less Project 2016-2017 was presented, the school that are involved, the national coordinator, the steps taken in the project implementation, the selection of students, designating the teams, the materials made by all the 17 groups of students and also Power Point presentations.
The activity was made by organizing an exhibition with all the photos captured by students following their own investigations; Each team, through their representatives, presented their own environmental investigations, with the negative issues that were identified in our community, with the solutions they proposed in their own journalistic studies (articles); All products closely followed the theme of Litter Less; Pupils answered the questions of the other participants in the activity; At the same time, the video slideshow of the photos and the videos made by the students were presented at the video projector.
The sources where the dissemination took place were presented, but also the methods in which all the materials were made were brought to the attention of the school, local and national community.
SLOVAKIA
Mládežnícka elementary school in Púchov organized the local Community Action Day on April 27, 2017. The event was organized as Zelený jarmok (green fair) in the pedestrian zone of Púchov. In total, 25 ecologically-oriented info-stands and workshops for children were open to visitors. The aim was to show that children are deeply concerned about the environment. Participants of the Green Fair: five Primary Schools, two Secondary Schools, Technical University from Trenčín, Chmelinec Social Services Center, and Včielka school environmental club. Pupils focused especially on composting and the recycled art.
A well-known Slovak singer Peter Bažík was the main attraction of the CAD. Based on the lyrics written by a student Martin Opat, Peter composed the music. The song has become "The Hymn of the Green Fair”, and it has been presented on the stage – students together with the singer – for three times. Concert of Peter Bažík attracted to the event more than 500 participants, in spite of rainy and cold weather. If everything goes well, the song will be sampled in the studio soon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJCRqceTIec .
SLOVAKIA
The Young reporters from Gymnázium Školská organized their first Community Action Day on April 26, 2017. They focused on the youngest ones: children from three kindergartens and three elementary schools took part.
First, YRE program was introduced, then pupils tried sorting out the waste properly. Kids also became familiar with the story of a beverage can. Finally, old beverage cans were used to make a memorial objedct.
Part of the students worked in the schoolyard. They cleaned it from artificial and biological waste. Another group of students created an artistic work from used yogurt caps. As a result, a nice image of a fish floating between the corals has been created.
The whole day was shot by the camera that was purchased for this purpose. The video made by a YR Adriána Henčeková has been accepted by the regional TV Reduta http://www.snv.sk/archiv/?video=170509-4.
KAZAKHSTAN
The first containers for the collection of plastic wastes appeared in residential areas of the city of Taraz this year. "The collected garbage is sent for processing to Kostanay and Chelyabinsk, where polyester fiber is used for the production of synthetic materials (holofiber, sintepon) for agriculture, medicine and road construction," says the director of KazEcology, Eldar Malayev.
Students of Secondary school №38 named after 30 years of Victory took an active part in the promotion of waste sorting. In the framework of the Litter Less Campaign, Eco-committee of the school headed by Madina Bisengaliyeva, the director of this educational institution, together with the "KazEcology" company has done extensive work in the school, microdistrict and city. The students not only arranged the sorting of plastic and paper in their school, but also agitated the inhabitants of the 2nd microdistrict and the whole city, stuck out leaflets, explained how important is to preserve the cleanliness of the environment.
KAZAKHSTAN
S. Seyfullin Secondary School (Burabay village), which joined this year's Litter Less campaign, was a meeting place for participants from other schools: L. Tolstoy School-Gymnasium #4 and Y. Gagarin Secondary school from Stepnogorsk city. In addition, other schools, who are not participants of the YRE programme yet, but are interested in it, were invited to the meeting: Chshuchinsk secondary schools № 1, 2 and 6, Zelenoborsk school and Okazhetpes school.
At this meeting, YRE students and teacher shared experience and result of their work in Litter Less campaign , as well as conducted training workshops for students of different age. The primary school students learned to create a filter for water from improvised means, students of 5-7 grades were involved in active game and the older ones discussed the topic "The ideal reporter, the ideal article, the perfect photo and video" during workshop conducted by students and teachers from L. Tolstoy School-Gymnasium #4 .
"Throughout the event, there was a feeling of benevolence, openness, attention genuine interest, activity and enthusiasm of children in the performance of tasks," - Viktor Maslov, one of workshop leaser, expressed his opinion on the event.
NEW ZEALAND
Five schools from the Rotorua area are incorporating a community action day event into an existing annual ceremony called the One Chance Youth Awards. These awards celebrate young people doing amazing things in their community. There will be representatives from each school who will be raising awareness about the importance of keeping their local area beautiful and promoting the local branch (Keep Rototua Beautiful). There will be over 400 students at the event and some of the students will be filming this event as part of their YRE projects.
NEW ZEALAND
Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery school held discussions about litter problems they see and what they’d like to do about them, the girls came up with the idea of making cotton/beeswax sandwich wraps to sell to try and replace all the ‘glad wrap’ being used in lunchboxes and at the cafeteria on campus.
There is a higher goal to try and persuade the on-site cafeteria (part of University of Canterbury) to use ‘Happywraps’ (the name of their product) to sell with their sandwiches rather than wrap them in plastic wrap. The idea is similar to the sustainable takeaway coffee cups that people can buy instead of using cardboard cups each time. There are also plans to sell the wraps at a local preschool that is having a ‘litter-less’ lunchbox focus this term.
FRANCE
On 22nd May, this high school has organized an award giving ceremony, for their prize in the Article 15-18 category in the LLC. Their project Terracycle consists in recycling old pens; all the people from the school community involved in the project were present at the ceremony to reward the winning students. Their town's mayor and the president of the local structure of waste processing were also there to celebrate and congratulate the students for their hard work.
This project is also a wonderful opportunity for the students to participate in other actions in the next few days. They will go on a visit of a methanisation plant located in their town. Also, they will soon welcome a journalist from a young newspaper specializing in impact journalism. A busy agenda for our winners!
FRANCE
On 18th May, the school organised a prize-giving ceremony to reward the students who won prizes for the 2017 edition. This year, this high school has hit the jackpot as two of their teams have won a prize: Isis and Justine got the best Article 15-18 category, and Clémence, Allan and Cassandra got the best Video 15-18 category for the LLC.
It was a splendid occasion to enhance their work, and to promote the programme among the school community. The students received their diplomas and the whole assembly enjoyed a warm cocktail. This event was also a great opportunity to draw up a review of all the actions the high schoolers have led, such as a cleanup of their local riverbanks, a bike day or a clothes swap.
FRANCE
In Beaumarchais middle school in Meaux city, the students built a composter themselves. After finishing it, some of them were dedicated to training the canteen staff, other students and teachers to use it on a daily basis.
Moreover, they have edited a school newspaper on sustainable development issues and they have spread it among their families in order to share good practises. This middle school is a “REP” school (high priority educational network). The Litter Less Campaign and the funds allocated to the Community Action Days contribute to empower the students and to give them a concrete responsibility in their school environment - they can be artisans, reporters, or a communications specialists.
SLOVAKIA
YRE students from Zakladna skola Jana Palatrika Majchihov participating in the Litter Less Campaign investigated the problem of litter dumping on the border between two villages. The article presented in the local newspaper and addressed to the mayors of the two villages was very powerful. The mayors together negotiated and arranged a common clean-up of the area in a short time. The area remains clean up to now.
ROMANIA
YRE students initiated waste segregation in the school in Raduti and influenced the local municipality to take action. Starting this year, the City Hall of Radauti managed to access a program that consists of collecting selective waste in personalised trash bags from every house. Also, the city hall started an awareness and education campaign for the citizens regarding recycling, selective collection of waste and storing dried and wet waste. Students are hoping that other environmental problems that were raised by them will have an echo to the local authorities, but also to the citizens as well as to our local community. Slowly, but surely, their efforts for a cleaner environment are taking form. It is very well shown that the prizes from the five Litter Less Campaigns are justified through strong dissemination in the local community and we are empowering the local authorities and citizens from the community.
Coordinators: Prof. Liviu Gheorghe Hatnean from the National College “Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi” and Cornelia Hatnean from the “Bogdan Voda” Gymnasium School”, Rădăuți/ Romania
ISRAEL
Through the Litter Less Campaign (LLC) in YRE, a group of boys aged 11-12 dealt with a very local problem - there was no bin on their football pitch! There was not even a plastic bottles recycling one. In extremely hot Israel you have to take water with you if you are going to play football! The boys took photos and wrote about the problem. They sent it all to the mayor of Jerusalem, Mr. Nir Barkat. Not only did they receive a reply, the situation was fixed two months later! The boys were so proud of themselves and told me that "even the big boys thanked them" (you know how important that is). And I personally have to say: changing things that matter to you when you are 12 years old gives you the confidence to change bigger things when your 16, 18 or 20. This experience for those kids can definitely change the way they believe in their capabilities.
FRANCE
The value of recycled paper in Collège Guy Mollet (France)
The pupils are currently working on recycled paper.
They produce not only recycled paper but also pieces of art by using used paper and old newspapers. The school Christmas tree is also made of recycled cardboard. This recycling activity should reach all students by the end of the school year.
The students also took a trip to a centre that collect clothes where they discovered the importance of recycling clothes. They are in the process of producing a report in order to raise awareness on the issue not only in their school but also amongst their families and the inhabitants of their city.
FRANCE
On Wednesday the 30th of November and Thursday the 1st of December, the students carried out a waste collection mission on the Mugel beach in La Ciotat.
Armed with gloves and garbage bags, they paced the beach in search of waste. They were surprised to find household waste coming from the pipes, such as cotton buds.
After the collection, all the waste was categorized and recorded using a detailed sheet containing the different categories of waste (plastic bags, cans, bottle stoppers, cigarettes ...).
The data sheets were then sent to the Observatory for Waste in the Water Environment (ODEMA). The ODEMA made it possible to rank the amount of waste by type. Unsurprisingly, it was plastic that was number one.
This output showed that the waste is not static and can go a long way before ending up on our beaches ... Now it is up to the students to go back to the source and identify precisely where it comes from.
KAZKAHSTAN
In this academic year, two Almaty Secondary schools, №50 and №32, joined the Litter Less campaign and YRE programme. Students were actively involved into the work and on the 25th of November they participated in the workshops to create environmental articles and photo reports which was carried out by the YRE programme national operator, Mariya Tyuryuchsheva.
Young reporters learned what a lead is, why an article needs to have a hero and what the main issues that reporter should cover in their work. In addition, the students discussed the environmental problems associated with garbage and waste.
