The winning schools were Boikgantsho Primary School from Mamelodi (Gauteng) which won R50,000 as the first prize and the first and second runners up were FF Rebeiro Primary School from Mamelodi and Lourdes Primary School, from Diepkloof (Gauteng) with R25,000 and R10,000 respectively for infrastructural development for their schools.
The awards took place at Montecasino before a diverse audience of students and headmasters joined by representatives from the Departments of Education and Waste Management and executives from ABI's corporate green partners and stakeholders.
The main aim of the school recycling competition has been to educate students, teachers, parents and the whole community about the importance of waste collection and recycling for a sustainable future. The schools were rewarded for volume collected as well as spirit embodied in their programme, which includes motivation of learners, use of the educational material, and innovation in recycling as well community involvement.
Surprise winners announced were the 10 recycling heroes from each of the 10 finalist schools who each walk away with school fees for the year, school uniform, stationery & school bags and the two most motivational and driven program facilitators walk away with IPads. In addition to this, the highest PET collecting school was rewarded with R5,000.
"On behalf of our partners, we would like to congratulate all our winners for an outstanding effort in greening their schools," said Gaopaleloe Mothoagae, sustainable development manager at ABI. "We commend the teachers who supported this learning opportunity to enhance the educational experiences for the students."
It has been a long but rewarding journey for 120 primary schools within ABI territories in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The focus was on primary school children; in order to change the behaviour patterns of our country we need to change the mindset of a generation.
"This is a perfect example of one simple action by young people having a bigger impact - this is something we can all learn from, as a great achievement towards caring for the environment we live, work and play in," she concluded.
