Come and Recycle! - fifth meeting
Come and Recycle! - fifth meeting
Meeting number 5 of the Come and Recycle project focused on RECYCLING and PROPER SEPARATION. When you ask someone how they contribute to a greener planet, they usually answer that they recycle. I personally doubt that each of them has their own factory where they process plastic waste and turn it into reusable material. I smile and tell them that I separate. Truth be told, it's the least we can do for our planet. Ideally, we shouldn't create this waste at all. But if we do create it, let's at least separate it properly. So it doesn't unnecessarily end up in a landfill or, in a better case, in an incinerator.
We produce too much waste in Slovakia. In 2019, it was 435kg per person per year. Mostly it's municipal waste, but plastics are also largely represented, which are light but bulky. Landfills are full. In Slovakia, there are over 100 registered legal ones and several times more illegal ones...
After a brief introduction, where we introduced ourselves, the project, the European Solidarity Corps and IUVENTA, we jumped into the first activity. Using the Jam board application and its interactive whiteboard, we asked our participants - What are your expectations for this meeting?
Almost everyone had high expectations, and their main goal was to learn more about the project's topic. Some wanted to improve what they already knew. We believe that together with the lecturer, we succeeded, and the participants took away more from the meeting than just knowing that Kaufland has blue receipts :).
At the fifth meeting, our lecturer was Mirka Šárová. As she herself said at the beginning, she has no corporation, logo, or business behind her. Simply, the topics of ecology, recycling, separation, zero waste, vegetarianism, and many others captivated her so much that she began to educate herself on these topics. Through her work in an American national park, the DAPHNE institute, at clothing SWAP events, and countless other opportunities, she developed into a person who could probably share her experiences and knowledge for several days, and we would still listen to her because she spoke very engagingly and interestingly.
Our 49 participants had the opportunity to learn almost everything there is to know about the basics of separation, recycling, waste production, its incineration, and landfilling. She also touched on topics such as zero-waste and vegetarianism, which interested the participants, and one participant even showed us what vegan goodies he bought at a zero-waste store. Mirka told us at the beginning that she wanted an interactive lecture, and... we conclude that she succeeded wonderfully.
P.S. Mirka takes really beautiful photos. If you're interested in something like that, we recommend checking out her Instagram profile -> @dame.fotecku
The meetings were primarily attended by young people predominantly aged 15 to 19, most of whom came from our partner schools - Gymnázium Park mládeže 5 in Košice, Gymnázium Poštová 9 in Košice, and Gymnázium Konštantínova 2 in Prešov. We are very pleased with their interest, as they were our target group that needs to be educated. It is precisely they who will build the future of our planet. And as a bonus, several participants wrote to us that they also noticed us from FB and our personal Instagram stories.
At the end of the meeting, we managed one more activity, this time via Mentimeter.
We were interested in what they took away from the lecture and asked them - What information about recycling surprised you?
We also wanted to find out their relationship to separation and how it is handled at the school they attend :).
The answers were diverse, and we are convinced that participants will be inspired by them and will apply them in reality.
After Mentimeter, we did a quiz via Kahoot!. The winner received a great book on the topic of recycling
We also created a platform for our participants, where they can find the presentation and individual photos from this meeting. So they can go through everything again, and if they accidentally forget something, they can quickly find it out.
We would like to thank the partners of this meeting once again:
Mirka Šárová,
Gymnázium Park mládeže 5 in Košice,
Gymnázium Poštová 9 in Košice,
Gymnázium Konštantínova 5 in Prešov.
The education is supported by the European Solidarity Corps program, administered by IUVENTA - Slovak Youth Institute.
