Schools need to adopt a low waste system for their day to day activities for valid reasons; Of course!
Students need to practice waste management habits from a tender age.
The first step towards that would be to bring awareness among the student & other stakeholders. This awareness should not be limited to a page essay or a chart paper with pictures on it. Because after the end of an academic year, there are going to landfills anyway.
Rather what could be done is practical practice waste management practices in the school itself. This would keep students thinking & questioning. Finally, this curiosity would be the foundation of a large zero-waste practicing community. Not to forget, this would prevent a major chunk of waste dumping in landfills.
1. Arrange a field trip to recycling units, composting units, sustainable business & landfills: Also Carry the waste collected from school. This is essential for students to get rid of the attitude "Hey! It's only one; stop crying." Bringing awareness of the current sustainable business will help students develop entrepreneurship skills & ideas. This will also help students get familiar with concepts of mixed material, micro-plastics, fast fashion, etc.
2. Educate & arrange for eco-friendly school gears: If the school has an inbuilt school supply sale service; then great! Try to be waste conscious there. Even small changes matter. Have eco-friendly & reusable materials. Don't give away your products in plastic packets; there are many alternatives. Schools can eradicate unnecessary stuff in school supplies like plastic notebook covers, butterfly stickers, etc.
3. Build creative art & craft classes: A Reusable project doesn’t mean you buy ice cream sticks from the market (which again comes in plastic packaging, which is given to you in another plastic packet). The crafty classes should be in-classroom group projects. Make use of classroom display board chart papers, existing projects, etc. Do not decorate your classrooms with colorful plastic decorative on occasions such as children's day, farewell, etc; because at the end of the day, they end up in the dustbins.
4. Educate about alternative menstrual products: Believe it or not, we are not even taught about tampons in school. Every school conducts a yearly "menstrual awareness program" which is basically a video on pads & not to forget they also give away a sanitary packet to every girl. To top it all off we are said, when you reach your classroom, pretend as if it was girl's only craft class. Who can forget the effort to hide the packet inside your school dress, which was way small; then trying to sneak in your hand inside your pocket to hide it & meanwhile also trying to look cool? Were those lies necessary? Why on earth were we supposed to hide it? Why didn't I question it then? (I really hope your experience is different). Anyways, it's high time we are taught about alternative menstrual products. Every girl must know the products available in the market, its advantages, disadvantages, hygiene & usage. Not educating students adds to the various myths. The most prominent one being the puncture of our holy hymen (or as we know it parda). That crap doesn't exist, so educate students, irrespective of gender & sexual orientation. It's not only women who bleed.
5. Start waste segregation & composting practices in school: These practices will normalize having compost bins in every household. It will make students aware of different products, their manufacture, and disposal in the right way. Just installing recycling color bins on school premises is not enough. Students need to know about waste generation & its consequences first. This will make them take firm choices while choosing to buy products.
Comments
Post a Comment