Vaiala Beach students first

03 March 2016, 12:00AM

A group of lucky students at Vaiala Beach School have become the first in the Pacific to receive free copies of a colourful new educational poster, produced through a partnership between the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (S.P.R.E.P) and the European Union.

Called ‘Smart choices for a cleaner and safer Pacific’ the poster promotes a range of simple actions that contribute to reduced waste and increased resilience.

Annie Meredith, Year 7/8 Teacher at Vaiala Beach School, sees great value in fostering the idea of making smart choices, both at home and in the classroom.

“For us, receiving these posters has been very timely as our class is working on a range of initiatives, such as composting, to improve our resource management,” she said. 

“The posters will be a great reminder to all our students about the importance of making smart choices, rather than falling back into old habits.” 

The Smart Choices campaign has been created through the Pacific Hazardous Waste Management Project – PacWaste. PacWaste is a € 7.85 million, four year project funded by the European Union and implemented by S.P.R.E.P to improve regional hazardous waste management across the Pacific.

The Director General at S.P.R.E.P, Leota Kosi Latu, explains that behaviour change at an individual and community level is key to sustainable waste management in general.

“If we want to see entrenched hazardous waste management practices, an important starting point is to change our mindsets when we deal with any kind of waste – whether it is green waste in our gardens, household waste in our rubbish bins and even wasted energy from appliances and lights. Like the poster says, making smart choices can make a huge difference to both human health and the health of the environment.”

Schools across the Pacific can request free copies of the poster, printed on 100per cent recycled paper, by emailing S.P.R.E.P’s Information Resource Centre and Archives (I.R.C.A) at [email protected] 

Posters are available in English and French. Electronic copies can also be downloaded from www.sprep.org/pacwaste

School groups interested in visiting S.P.R.E.P can contact Miraneta Williams-Hazelman on 21929 to arrange a suitable date and time.

03 March 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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