Come and Recycle! - an initiative of young people who care about the environment
Come and Recycle!
The EU's goal was to recycle 50% of waste by 2020. Slovakia committed to separating up to 60% of waste. Nevertheless, the waste recycling rate in Slovakia is currently one of the worst in the EU. Up to 2/3 of waste ends up in landfills. Waste management is an important topic, especially due to the sustainability of environmental quality, sustainable economic growth, and consumption. Industrial transformation, rapid economic development, and increasing economic levels bring environmental issues and their sustainability to the forefront. It is undeniable that for us as a society to live sustainably, we need to understand this concept as individuals and embrace it as part of our lives.
To ascertain the perception of this problem in our surroundings, we decided to analyze the situation in the student environment. After conducting a survey among our students, we generalize that they are interested in waste separation and the topic is not indifferent to them. In some schools, there are still no waste separation bins. We perceive that our peers need a positive example and an opportunity to develop in this regard.
The solidarity project “Come and Recycle” responds to this problem with the aim of developing young people's competencies, which will enable them to reduce personal waste production, strengthen knowledge on how to properly manage and effectively utilize waste that they can commonly find at home or at school.
The specific goals of the project are to provide participants, through methods of non-formal education and experiential learning:
-to raise awareness about the benefits of recycling,
-to expand the knowledge of our peers involved in local activities on how to effectively recycle common waste and how to reduce its production,
-to share tips and tricks on how to reduce waste production and how to utilize waste through so-called upcycling,
-to create suitable waste separation bins in selected secondary schools,
-to empower our peers in Košice to actively participate in ecological activities.
Students from two secondary schools in Košice will participate in the training - Gymnázium Park mládeže 5 and Gymnázium Poštová 9. These schools will be represented by a group of young people who have shown interest and are not indifferent to the topic. Some of the seminars will also be open to the wider public, as the ONLINE world allows. We look forward to seeing you!
The education is supported by the European Solidarity Corps program, administered by IUVENTA - Slovak Youth Institute.
