Zero waste is a term that means doing all you can to be aware of the waste you generate every day and working hard to reduce it. That way, you help to conserve resources and minimise pollution.
You can reduce, reuse, recycle, and make mindful choices about what, how much, and how often to make purchases.
Globally, Zero Waste Weeks are celebrated in early September and the United Nation’s International Day of Zero Waste is March 30. Until Jamaica declares its intent to declare its own Zero Waste Week or Day, we encourage interested schools to pick a week and work with it! At Campion College, for the past few years, our Green Generation Club has staged it the week leading up to Earth Day on April 22 and often extends into Earth Week, but it is up to each school. We are hoping the Government of Jamaica will eventually make Zero Waste Week a national week and encourage schools, businesses and communities to participate.
How to stage a Zero Waste Week
It is really simple. It’s all about creating and promoting a week-long campaign that works for your school to help promote more climate-conscious behaviour. Use activities you know will interest students. 1 Try these 5 basic steps.
STEP 1 – PLAN YOUR ZERO WASTE WEEK CAMPAIGN
Use our school’s experiences as an example. You can follow @ccgreengen and scroll through the account to see what we have done over the past 2 years. We like to choose fun, alliterative names for each day to bring focus to a particular climate problem, such as Fast Fashion Friday and Wind Down Wednesday. On these days, we explain the theme’s contribution to climate change and how to mitigate it.
STEP 2 – ANNOUNCE your ZERO WASTE WEEK
At an assembly and explain what it is (see basic explanation above) and access these Zero Waste Week facts. Make sure to build awareness and generate interest by posting “coming soon” announcements to your school’s social media to share with the entire school community. Use the opportunity to lead into the week by sharing on the circular economy and the concept of circular cities, and consider how circular your school can become, starting with your Zero Waste Week.
Although targeting schools, this approach is easily able to be adapted for organisations.
STEP 3 – INCREASE CLIMATE KNOWLEDGE:
Quiz Time: Stage a quiz to share key bits of information and build interest – we did ours in our school courtyard and recognised those who got the most correct answers. We also shared the quiz on our school’s IG page afterwards with answers. (See sample quiz attached which can be changed each year with basic online research).
Carbon Footprints – You can also do an activity to encourage participants to calculate their carbon footprints. A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) generated by our actions. Globally, the average carbon footprint is close to 4 tons. To have the best chance of avoiding a 2℃ rise in global temperatures, the average global carbon footprint per year needs to drop to under 2 tons by 2050. (RESOURCES – Try this Carbon Footprint activity).
Another resource is to join the UNICEF-developed social messaging tool and data collection system, U Report, and try the 21st century lifeskills chatbot, FunDoo, by texting the word “FunDoo” to UNICEF’s U-Report WhatsApp number, 876-838-4897 and trying its Climate Action task.
STEP 4 – EXECUTE YOUR WEEK-LONG CAMPAIGN OF ZERO WASTE WEEK ACTIVITIES including on social media with posts linked to each day’s theme such as:
Meatless Monday – Share some Vegetarian recipes because reducing meat consumption means reducing the amount of Carbon Dioxide that goes into the air which helps to protect our ozone layer.(Resources – See more information at the Scientific American article and this PBS video)
Teetoes Tuesday – Upcycle gently used T-shirts into reusable bags in 6 simple steps and help cut down on single-use plastic. No sewing required. See @teetotesja on Instagram and follow these instructions At our school, for example, all of our first formers do this in their personal development class each year at this time.
There are 4 ways to join U-Report –
- SMS: Thanks to support from FLOW, their customers can sign up free via SMS, no data plan needed. Text the word JOIN to 876-838-4897.
- Facebook Messenger: Send the word JOIN to @ureportjamaica
- WhatsApp: Just message the word JOIN to 876-838-4897.
- Instagram: DM the word JOIN to @ureportjamaica(RESOURCES – For more information on why textile recycling/upcycling is so important see these Top 10 Facts about recycling clothes and watch this BBC video)
Wind down Wednesday – be mindful of powering off and plugging out devices when not needed. Maybe keep a log of how many devices you actually power down! Every small step to be more energy efficient helps, such as turning off lights and water as well as unplugging devices when not using or charging them. Energy-efficient light bulbs. Solar panels, electric vehicles- every personal choice we can make and greater governmental awareness to enact relevant policies and in addition, oversee disposal of electric waste is critical. It all adds up! E-waste can be dropped off to any National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Facility – contact them at nswma.gov.jm. Follow them @nsma.(Resources – For more information, see this Sustainable Living article)
“Trees that feed” Thursday – Make simple, fun bird feeders out of plastic bottles. All you need are plastic bottles, a pair of scissors, birdseed, a spoon and some strong. Clean the bottle, cut a hole on one side, close to the middle of the bottle and push through to the other side. Make the hole big enough for a spoon to go all the way through, and the mouth of the spoon to be able to fit in so the seed falls out when a bird lands on it. Hang them around your school or home.
Jamaica and the world need more trees, so if you have space to plant or can encourage tree planting by sourcing tree seedlings from the Forestry Department. Follow them on social media to stay aware of, and support their activities. (Resources – For more information, see this piece from TIME magazine to learn more about the climate action power of trees and watch a video here)
Another Thursday option is Thrifty Thursday where you stage a clothing drive leading up to the day and price the clothes under JD$500 and use the activity to educate on the positive climate impact of thrifting AND raise funds for your club! (Resources – For more information, see this article on the environmental benefits of thrifting)
Fast Fashion Friday – encourage people to re-wear their clothes, re-gift, and donate them for the use of others by staging a clothes drive for a designated period of time. We launch our drive on this day and run it through the end of the term.• If you stage Thrifty Thursday, you can add the unsold clothes to this and basically extend the clothes drive you began for that activity.
Arrange to donate the regular clothes to a nearby church, or the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) – 48 Duke St, Kingston; (876) 948-6678; on Instagram @cpfsajm
**Also consider joining the Unicycle Jamaica and Come Mek Wi Dance movements at the end of your school term by collecting and donating gently used uniforms (school uniforms, PE gears, dance attire) that your school does not need (we know some schools keep on hand for their own students). Contact [email protected] or message Instagram @unicyclejamaica, @comemekwidance to arrange to collect at the end of the term.
Unicycle Jamaica works with the Ministry of Education and Youth’s National Education Trust (NET) to redistribute to students in need along with school supplies every August/September. (Resources – For more information on the dangers of Fast Fashion read this BBC piece and watch this video from Teen Vogue)
*** Please remember to tag @ccgreengen and @unicyclejamaica when you post on these activities and spread the word, encouraging more schools and associations to join in and help us to zero in on waste
STEP 5 – REFLECT and NEXT STEPS
Review what went well and discuss any new ideas to be ready to run the week again the following year. Lastly, below are some General Zero Waste Activities to set as potential goals during the school year:
- Plastic Recycling – Start plastic recycling if it isn’t already organised. Contact Recycling Partners Jamaica, follow them on Instagram @recyclingja and visit recyclingja.com.
- TIP – For your school’s Sports Day join our Green Generation club’s efforts and stage a bottle drive leading up to it, sharing on the importance of plastic recycling and allocating house points for what is collected. Repackage donations in same size biodegradable plastic bags and do your best to judge amounts per house. Ensure the bottles can be collected by a recycling organisation! See Sports Day Bottle drive sample flyer and information on why plastic bottle recycling is so helpful for the climate here
- Waste Audit – Consider staging a waste audit at your school.
- Begin Composting -Try to compost if you can.
- Be more energy conscious – Use energy-efficient lighting by advocating and fundraising if needed to purchase energy-efficient light bulbs. Promote Earth Hour (usually on the 3rd Saturday in March) – by encouraging your school community to turn off their lights for that period.
- Stage Clean Ups – Hold school cleanups and participate in beach clean ups periodically if you can. The most widely supported beach clean-up is International Coastal Clean Up Day which takes place every 3rd Saturday in September and is coordinated by the Jamaica Environment Trust. Follow them on social media for more information
Compiled by Maria Greenland and Jonathan Shaw, current Campion College Green Generation co-presidents, and Rhys Greenland, immediate past president. Maria and Jonathan have led the club’s zero-waste week since its inception in 2022.
Comments