Students at Beaconhouse Civil Lines Rawalpindi, concerned about improper disposal of garbage, launched a school wide campaign to educate their peers. Following research on their own to understand how to best tackle the problem, they led by example – setting up appropriately marked bins for waste disposal and sorting through which the entire school was mobilized to dispose of garbage responsibly.

1. Beaconhouse School System
Civil Lines Branch
Rawalpindi
Topic: Garbage Sorting
Understanding the need to recycle
Understanding the importance of saving our planet
Target Group: School Children between the age of 7- 13 years
Time given: One week
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2. Day 1 4th
October 2010
• 4 groups of 5 pupils each were made. (Class 5- age group 10-12 years)
• They were introduced to the Design for Change Programme and the topic
selected for our school.
• These teams of students visited the different sections of class 4’s and 5’s
and introduced the students to the idea of garbage sorting and how it was
going to help the garbage collectors in recycling the waste material.
• These teams of students asked the children to donate Rs.10 each to buy
waste baskets with proper labels on them.
• They were given the Design for change posters and asked to paste them
around the school, so that the whole school familiarized themselves with this
project.
Fig 1: The teachers explaining the whole project.
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3. Fig 2: The group of students listening attentively.
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4. Fig3: The second group of children.
Fig 4: The teams of 5 pupils each were allocated their roles.
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5. Day2 5th
October 2010
• The dustbins with their respective labels were placed at a key position in the
school play area for all to see and use.
• The presence and purpose of the dustbins was mentioned in the school
morning assembly and the pupils were encouraged to use them appropriately.
• The team of students visited the classrooms before the school break time
and reinforced the importance of garbage sorting and proper disposal.
Fig 5: The team of students addressing the school children.
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6. Fig 6: The teacher in charge accompanying the team.
Fig 7: The team of students taking support from their teacher.
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7. Fig 8: They seem quite convincing.
The campaign poster on one of the
walls.
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8. Day3 6Th
October 2010
• The school Headmistress, a guiding force for the whole school asked the
school children the purpose of the programme during the morning assembly.
• The pupils came up with appropriate responses. A few pupils shared their
experiences with the whole school highlighting the negligence exhibited by a
few pupils in not reading the labels properly and throwing the wrong waste in
the wrong baskets.
• A few of them were quite satisfied with the students responses and wanted
this practice to continue so that they could make a small change in saving
their planet.
• The school sweepers were very supportive and were keeping the waste
neatly tied in separate garbage bags for the Cantonment board garbage
collection trucks.
Fig 9: The Headmistress questioning Fig 10: The Headmistress addressing the
the pupils. school.
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9. Fig 11: The pupils listening attentively.
Fig 12: The sorted waste. Fig 13: The sweeper lining the bins.
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10. Fig 14: The dried leaves in separate bin
Fig 15: The team of students with the bins.
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11. • Day 4: 7th
October 2010
•
• The students were now actively following the garbage sorting campaign.
• They were now throwing wrappers of different food materials in their
respective bins.
• The school cleaning team was supporting the programme by emptying the
bins as soon as they were filled and tying the bin liners and keeping them in
proper order for the Cantonment board collection.
• The group of children improved their public speaking skills by addressing
students and developed confidence too.
• The whole school was going through a very healthy transformation as
everyone felt responsible for his part in improving their school cleaning
standards and help the cantt board in sorting garbage for easy recycling.
Fig 16: The students using the bins in the break time.
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12. Fig 17: We are so proud of our job.
Fig 18: See how small things make such big difference.
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13. Fig 17: This is how our school garbage
looked like previously.
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14. Day 5 8th
October 2010
• By now our school children feel the importance of throwing garbage in their
respective bins as they understand that keeping garbage in separate bins will
help in recycling of the waste material.
• Through discussions and talk sessions they are also aware of the harmful
effects of open garbage throwing spots.
• Although the school children were very enthusiastic about the whole garbage
drive so in later weeks we plan to take them to the Cantonment board
recycling plant in Rawalpindi.
• The final destination of the recycled garbage is very important for the
pupils to see and understand.
• The school has become a more clean and friendly place where peers are
checking each other and themselves.
• During the whole week no rowdy/ rough attitude was experienced on school
grounds.
• This has been a very healthy experience for our pupils and more contests/
drives of such nature should be conducted in schools.
• The students from class 3, 4, 5 were guiding forces for the pupils of class
1’s and 2’s as they were also trying to copy their seniors.
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