Almost 30, 000 plastic bottles collected by students in plastic pollution competition

In a bid to help with the issue of waste management, especially regarding the use of plastics and aluminum cans, Policy Forum Guyana recently hosted the ‘Waste to Win’ competition, rewarding 54 participants from 17 schools for their efforts to help curb the problem.

The competition started in August and ended in September, with the prize giving ceremony being held last week. The initiative, with 27 teams for plastic and 19 teams for aluminum cans, started with a partnership with Cevons Waste Management Inc.

Policy Forum Coordinator Benita Davis told the News Room on Wednesday at her office on Hadfield Street, that the participating students were drawn from schools in Regions 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10.

Wanting to help, Policy Forum decided to call up Cevons to find out if there was anything that the company did with plastics, and based on the feedback received, the idea of the competition came about.

“To our surprise, Cevons actually strips plastic and recycles them. So we thought maybe we can launch a competition with schools to see if there’s an interest with the separation of garbage so at least all of that garbage don’t go to the landfill and it can go directly to Cevons recycling plant,” Davis shared.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the participants, an astounding 28,321 plastic bottles and 7,736 aluminum cans were saved from entering Guyana’s landfills, marking a significant contribution to the fight against plastic pollution.

The winning participants were selected based on how many pieces of plastics they were able to pick up from their environment and the team with the highest score for plastic cans got 14,086 plastics.

“We were able to divert over 28,000 plastics from entering the landfills as well as over 7,000 cans….we were also able to educate students about the need for separation of garbage to understand that plastic is pervasive; it has a negative impact on the environment,” Davis said.

According to Davis, the competition helped the students to realise how much plastic they actually use in a two-month period. They were also reminded of the pollution issue at hand and what they can do to reduce their use of plastic.

As for the basic process of waste separation, she explained: “You just need a separate bin or garbage bag, and you just put all your plastic items. Contact Cevons and you actually get reimbursed for the amount of plastic that you take in.”

The competition’s top performers were recognized with 1st to 5th place plaques, creatively made from shredded plastic bottles collected during the competition, along with other prizes.