Bonwelong Primary School was presented with a R7 500 prize for coming out tops in a competition.
On November 18, Pikitup Johannesburg visited the Tembisa school to hand over the cheque.
An educator at the school, Mrs Mavis Moropana, said they were happy with the prize.
“This will enable us to realise the dream of living in a clean environment that is conducive for teaching.
“It will reduce the amount of litter around the school and eliminate the risk of disease that can be brought about by pests, flies and rodents,” said Mrs Moropana.
She said above all, the learners can learn that there are things they can create from waste and make a living out of recycling.
“They can also transfer the information to their parents who can make a business out of recycling. Our dream is to channel the money towards buying and placing more bins around the school yard. Some of that money will be used to finish the building process of the school hall,” said Mrs Mavis Moropana.
The company’s manager for environmental education, awareness and community development, Mr Smith Kelomo, said Pikitup introduced an Ecorangers platform to help the schools reduce the waste that is meant to go to landfill sites.
“We gave the schools themes to recycle, reduce and reuse. School children were able to create from waste objects like musical instruments, plate placemats and candle holders. We had 300 schools in Johannesburg that entered the competition,” said Mr Kelomo.
He said Bonwelong Primary School was shortlisted among 16 schools and from the shortlisting, Bonwelong Primary School became one of the top six schools in Johannesburg, and the overall winner in region-A.
“The prize money should go towards the school’s environmental projects. This will change the children’s attitude and that of the community in the handling of the environment. The children will thereafter transfer to the community the skills learnt from participating in the EcoRanger project,” said Mr Kelomo.
He said Pikitup plans to roll out the project to other schools in the future.
He advised the community not to dump but to reduce, recycle and reuse.
He said if the community dumps it creates problems for itself and their children.