Hundreds of Centurion learners clean up east park
“It is always great to teach the children about the environment because we already live in a world that is filled with waste and pollution and we should all do our bit to clean it up.”
About 145 learners from Lyttelton Primary School cleaned up the Magnolia Dell park in Pretoria recently.
This was after the grade 5 learners received a visit from John Dory’s to teach them about plastic pollution affecting the environment.
Spokesperson Lutho Mtongana said John Dory’s concept of Captain Fanplastic was aimed at raising the awareness and educating pupils in a fun and practical way in order to create behavioural change in the youth so that oceans can remain sustainable for generations to come.
The action-packed and informative day kicked off with Captain Fanplastic’s telling a story on the importance of caring for our environment, followed by engaging fun activities in which learners found a way to reuse plastic bottles and caps to create something new.
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The learners then headed out for a treasure hunt clean-up at the Magnolia Dell park.
“There, they could apply what they had learned in the morning session.
“They discovered different types of litter and plastic trash and cleaned it up, returning the environment to its blooming spring colours and life,” said Mtongana.
The company said it was on a mission to educate as many South African primary school learners as possible about the harmful effects of plastic pollution on our rivers, oceans and the environment.
Mtongana said to date the programme had removed more than 58kg of plastic waste out off the environment.
“In 2018, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reported that an estimated 80 percent of marine pollution originated from land-based sources: wind, littering, overflowing landfills as well as generally poorly managed waste were some of the ways that plastic could end up in rivers and ultimately the ocean. Out of all the plastic in use in the country, only 16 percent is recycled.”
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Principal Masingoaneng Roberts said: “It is always great to teach the children about the environment because we already live in a world that is filled with waste and pollution and we should all do our bit to clean it up.”
To conclude the day, the children received prizes and certificates for their contribution towards cleaning up their environment.
“We were so impressed with the children. They were well informed about the issues facing our environment and specifically the harm caused to marine life in our oceans. This is exciting because it shows us that they are engaged with what is going on around them,” Joe Stead, Spur corporation sustainability manager said.
The company said it targeted primary schools because the education about plastic waste and pollution should start as early as possible.
“The long-term vision is to start a recycling programme at every school the Captain Fanplastic event reaches,” said Stead.
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