‘Rethink Your Drink’ catalyst in eradicating plastic pandemic
Print Edition
Concordia International School Shanghai, at the quintessential peak of its environmental progression, has established a multitude of initiatives that are driven by students. Three of the most notable address the use of plastic bottles, food waste and recycling at school.
The issue surrounding single-use plastics at the school began when Emersyn, a high school student at Concordia, experienced first-hand the Pacific Ocean’s widespread plastic pandemic while on a school scuba diving trip to Thailand. She was inspired to action and, with her knowledge of the threat plastic poses to our environment, suggested an approach to rid the school of single-use plastic water bottles entirely. Emersyn joined the Concordia’s Global Issues Network (GIN) club and enlisted the help of four other students under the guidance of one of their high school teachers. By the end of last year, the team successfully created a reusable water bottle movement and gained administration support for the upcoming plan in eliminating plastic drinking bottles. With the implementation of the Rethink Your Drink campaign, Concordia is on track to become one of the first schools in Shanghai to be plastic-free.
Concordia students have also adopted an initiative for dealing with the school’s food waste, headed by two seniors, Katherine and Michelle.
Studies conducted by the students indicated that on average the school threw out over 100 kilograms of food waste per day. As a solution to this, Concordia implemented the use of anaerobic composting buckets in the lower school cafeteria. These buckets allow for the decomposition of food waste by bacteria. When the process is completed, the nutrient-rich by-product of the composted food waste is added to soil, which may be used for the school’s environment-related classes. The implementation of this system will decrease food waste and increase Concordia’s agricultural independence.
Another of the school’s environmental campaigns is the Recycling Paper, Plastic and Cans project, which seeks to organize and limit non-organic waste. Megan, a Grade 12 student and project co-leader said, “The goal of the recycling group is to implement a new recycling system in Concordia for paper, plastic and aluminum. We want the community to become more aware on the benefits of recycling as well as the harms that overconsumption of paper, plastic, and aluminum will have on the environment.”
Efforts to create a greener community are not short-lived and will continue to grow.
Moving forward the substantial environmental efforts Concordia has experienced in recent years will escalate through the use of reusable water bottles, not wasting food and recycling paper, helping the school to lessen its environmental impact on the greater Shanghai community.
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