Unicorn Preparatory School launched their recycling drive during an assembly on Friday morning October 19.
The pupils from the school turned the issue of recycling into a fun subject by coordinating songs about the important issue.
The essence of the day’s topic was summarised during a prayer given by one of the learners, who said: “Help us to make better choices and not waste precious resources on earth.” At the beginning of this term, three different colour bins were put in each classroom to allow for the separation of materials. The black bin is for non-recyclable waste, the blue bin is for paper and the green one for plastic. Ronnie the recycling mascot came on stage and some Grade 5 learners were invited on to stage to sort through some recyclable and non-recyclable materials. The pupils definitely know their stuff on the subject and proved this by selecting the correct bin for each material.
Unicorn have partnered with Protonka Recycling Company in order to facilitate the removal of recyclable items from the school. The recycling depot is located just close to the entrance of the school and the project is overseen by the grounds staff of the school. Adèle Zervogiannis from Protonka then explained the process of recycling to the learners, informing them that once the recyclable items are removed by Protonka, they are further sorted by picker, baled and then sent to Mpact, where the bales are offloaded and recycled into reusable products.
Items such as toilet paper, cardboard boxes, new glass bottles and two-litre bottles are made from these recycled materials.
Furthermore, Adèle went on to explain the importance of recycling, “The population is growing and so the landfill sites are filling up too fast with waste and it helps to cut down on pollution… And also helps to save energy. “Recycling one tonne of paper can save 17 trees, recycling one glass bottle can save enough electricity to light a 100 watt light bulb for four hours.”
Phillipa Willson then told the LETABA HERALD about the success of the program so far, “The imagery and the stuff you read about it [pollution] is just shocking and it is easy to pretend that it is not happening. So much of the stuff we leave around ends up in the sea, it goes into a storm water drain, into a river and then into the sea. We can’t remove ourselves from where it is going, we need to know. We need to take responsibility.”
“Often people think that it [recycling] is too complicated, but it’s actually really simple, just do the basics,” says Willson, “We can make a difference.” Congratulations to Unicorn Preparatory School for taking on this wonderful project which is so incredibly important in today’s modern society. Hopefully the drive, ambition and commitment that the school is showing will be an inspiration to others to also get involved.
