Young ‘recycling detectives’ are on the case
Steve Tshwete Local Municipality Waste Minimisation Project Youth Leadership & Job Creation Award
n 2014, the inaugural year of the Mhluzi recycling programme, primary school learners at non-fee-paying schools in the Middelburg area collected nine tonnes of waste. In year two, 11.5 tonnes of plastic, paper and tin waste was rounded up. This year, the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality hopes the numbers will climb still further.
“Our project is targeting primary schools to spread the recycling message from an early age,” says Nokulunga Mahlangu of the municipality. “The theme for the 2016 competition, which runs from June 2016 to September 2016, is ‘recycling our litter’ and we hope the learners will continue to recycle beyond the competition cut-off.”
Earlier in the year participating schools were invited to submit recycling plans that outline how they encourage children to understand the impact of recycling and create practical recycling solutions. The schools continued into phase two of the competition, which is i mplementation of the recycling plans, with prizes for the schools that collect the most waste.
Everyone’s a winner. The winning school receives R25 000, the first runner-up R20 000, the second runner-up R15 000 and third runner-up R10 000. The primary school children — dubbed “recycling detectives” — get to learn about recycling in a sustainable way; the hope is they will continue to be environmentally aware and recycle long after the competition has closed.
The additional recycling matter also translates into additional jobs at the recycling buyback centre, where women are paid per kilogramme of sorted recycling matter.
The competition is run in partnership with Coca-Cola Shanduka Beverages, PETCO, and the Mpumalanga department of education.
Speaking at the launch of the project in 2014, executive mayor Mike Masina said: “We are one of the cleanest municipalities in South Africa, and it is initiatives like these that help us to drive the point home, as it involves young learners.”