Schools compete to collect plastic waste

Hundreds of students in north-west Trinidad are gearing up to start scouring their homes, neighbourhoods and school environs in a bid to collect the most plastic for the first Plasti-thon, launched by the environmental NGO, Plastikeep. In a release, Plastikeep said the Plasti-thon competition, which began on May 14 and runs until June 8, was developed to encourage school children to become aware of the dangers plastic poses to the natural environment and to wildlife, and to support them in becoming avid plastic recyclers and life-long stewards of the environment. The individual student, class and school that collects the most plastic will be awarded an environmentally-linked prize, which will include an overnight stay at Mt Plaisir in Grande Riviere, for turtle watching and a Right Start account at Republic Bank. 

 

 

Ten schools and over 5,000 students have already signed up to participate in the Plasti-thon and hope to collect and recycle tons of plastic. The competition is only open to schools in the north-west of Trinidad that are part of the Plastikeep pilot project.  One of the biggest man-made threats to the giant leatherback turtles is plastic in the ocean, which often causes them to suffocate and die when they mistake it for jellyfish and swallow it.  “Each day in Trinidad and Tobago we use up to 1.2 million pieces of plastic and very little of it is disposed of properly. A major concern is that plastic comprises up to 80 per cent of the garbage floating in the seas off T&T. That’s 15,000 pieces of litter on every square kilometre of water.”  It was explained that the problem was caused partly through ignorance, as many people throw waste into the environment believing it will naturally decompose. However, depending on the type of plastic, it can take anywhere between 20 to 450 years to break down, and styrofoam never does. The discarded plastic produces a toxic residue, which is harmful to all living species including humans.