Bishop Lavis Eco Warriors: Recycling is King!

The Bishop Lavis Enviro Hiking Club (BLEHC) is focused on community upliftment and is dedicated to, not only hiking but promoting environmental awareness and seeking sustainable solutions to environmental problems. One of these awareness campaigns is the focus on waste management and recycling to reduce pollution and the negative impact it has on our environment.

During April 2018, Wayne Davids in collaboration with BLEHC, embarked on a journey to implement a recycling project at Bishop Lavis High School within the Bishop Lavis Community. Various stakeholders were engaged which saw collaboration between the principal of the school, teachers, waste management service provider (EnviroServ), and our Eco-Warriors (the learners).

On 30 April, Wayne, together with a few teachers and learners, turned the classroom into an environmental educational session focusing on:

1) What is recycling?
It is a process of converting waste into reusable materials.

2) Why should we recycle?
Recycling reduces the need to extract and use natural resources. Recycling reduces the need for more landfills – reduces pollution caused by waste. It also saves on energy consumption and production costs by using recycled materials.

3) What are the benefits of recycling?
It saves on resources, saves energy, helps protects the environment and reduces incineration.

4) Which materials are suitable for recycling?
Metal (cans, foil, aluminium), cardboard, magazines, office paper, newspaper, plastic (bottles, jars, jugs), batteries, bulbs, electronics (computers, TVs, printers, etc.)

To assist the learners in making this a successful and sustainable project, recyclable material can be dropped off on set days (Mondays- Plastic, Wednesdays- Paper and Fridays-Cans) at Bishop Lavis High School.

During the next phases of the project, and based on current successes, we will incorporate glass and paper. Future endeavours will be to reach out to other schools in the area to empower the community to act and work towards building sound environmental ethics and behaviours.

We would like to thank the Principal, Teachers, Learners, Glenda Petersen, Wayne Davids and EnviroServ for their commitment and support to BLEHC and its activities.