India has around 1.5 million schools. With so many schools, comes waste. Waste generation in any education institution specifically in schools can be divided into 8 categories namely paper, electronic, plastic, furniture, garden, textile, food, and other waste.
Considering children spend a major chunk of their time in school, it can be a great platform to inculcate waste management education in them. No, I’m not talking about that one last 10 marks chapter in a science book called “solid waste management.” I literally mean waste management in practice.
Some schools have gone zero waste, but practically every school can't be zero waste completely. So what could be done is to stop creating unnecessary waste. “Unnecessary” here means is to reduce those waste which could be either swap with an alternative or need not be produced at all.
Waste generation starts at school. Our education system is not designed in a way to question every time a student generates waste. There are a lot of things in student activity itself that make a student not bother about its management.
I have studied in schools where there was compulsion on the student to cover their notebooks with notebook covers. Some have made it compulsory to use plastic transparent one or brown paper. Though many might argue that the brown paper without any plastic lining might be compostable why generate waste in the first place.
Admittedly I was also one of the many who made several projects with thermocol fairly to score marks. To think about it all those projects are now definitely in some landfills. Why hadn’t anyone thought beyond marks? Why hadn’t anyone thought about the disposal of those projects? What knowledge did making a postbox made out of thermocol imparted on us? #true story.
I have completed 12 years of schooling with almighty knows how many pens and other stationery. Most students do prefer reusable pens. Use and throw pens are the worst.
Considering there are more than 260 million students in school, educating them in regard means building a waste-conscious future. Inculcating these habits will also bring a change in the vision of the parents & as well as teachers. SO THAT’S A LOT OF PEOPLE.
A student’s behavior & practices are shaped around its school. So, making schools go zero –waste will make waste management practice a part of their life and not just a chapter. These practices will remain in student life even after his schooling and also bring a change in society. There cannot be any more effective & easier solution to mass education of waste management.
Whether a person prefers to lead a zero-waste lifestyle is completely their decision. but our mission at the very individual level must be to reduce the amount of waste thrown into the landfill. The amount of waste being recycled is minimal. So in order to send less waste to landfills means to generate less waste on the first place.
Stay tuned for tips & tricks for students to go low waste in school.
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