The Mayor and City Council last week piloted its solid waste recycling programme at two city schools—St Pius Primary and St Sidwell’s Primary.
The M&CC intends to roll out the programme in schools across the city, ahead of its plans to establish a compost plant to help address the garbage situation in the city.
Students at the two schools were told of the importance of reusing, reducing and recycling in creating a green environment and over the next two months, the city’s Solid Waste Department will be visiting schools and educating students on the 3 Rs.
According to Director of Solid Waste Management Walter Narine, they are targeting young minds as they are more likely to adapt to the changes to create a greener environment.
Public Relations Officer Debra Lewis noted that solid waste management has been an issue in the city, so the municipality is tackling this problem at every level.
During the informative session, students were educated on shopping smart by selecting items that are easy to dispose of.
The schools were each equipped with four bins in which to dispose of paper, aluminium tins, plastic and food waste separately.
“We are going to check in back with the schools in another week to see the food waste that they have accumulated and then we’re going to come back in another week and teach them how to do composting. That’s one way of reusing their waste,” Narine added.
At the end of the session, three environmental prefects were selected to aid in the promotion of efficient disposal of the garbage. The prefects will be there to monitor that the bins are used the right way.
Narine told Stabroek News that the city was awaiting permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to move ahead with the plans for the creation of its composting plant at Princes Street. He noted that they have already selected an area to have the plant erected. In relation to funding of the project, he said, the government has put aside an amount of money that they can access to create the compost plant. “Once we get that then we’ll do municipal composting, because remember it’s about 22 tons of refuse we take every day from the two markets alone, that’s Bourda and Stabroek,” Narine pointed out.
Additionally, Lewis said, the M&CC is working with businesses and community groups to ensure “no stone will be left unturned until we see a change in the attitude of our citizens and that’s from the oldest to the very smallest in the schools.”
Bounty Supermarket and Survival Supermarket are supporting the project and have donated reusable shopping bags.
