Meet the Class 6 students who prevented 14,000 plastic wrappers from ending up in landfills
A group of Class 6 students from Gurugram’s Heritage Experiential Learning School collected 14,000 plastic wrappers as part of a school project.
The plastic menace is threatening to drown us all. From oceans and sea life to farms and food, plastic is everywhere. The world has woken up to this threat, with governments, corporates, organisations, and individuals doing their bit for the cause.
It’s heartening to see that youngsters are leading the charge. Among them is a group of Class 6 students from Gurugram’s Heritage Experiential Learning School (HXLS), who are working hard to save plastic wrappers from ending up in landfills.
Children along with the MLP waste (Image: NDTV)
Multi-layered packing, or MLP, which is mostly used in the FMCG sector, is non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, and cannot be reused. It often ends up in landfills or litters our roads and public spaces.
The Class 6 students’ solution was a drive to collect these wrappers; in four months, they have collected 14,000 plastic wrappers. The initiative was part of a project in a subject called “Geography that shapes us”.
The school later collaborated with Safai Bank, which takes all the plastic, or MLP waste, and burns it in a cement factory furnace.
Speaking to NDTV, Rajeshwari S, a teacher, said, “Learning expeditions are an integral part of our school’s experiential learning curriculum where concepts and skills are built through real-life experiences.”
At the school, this begins by presenting students with a “pertinent, real-life problem”.
“Students are responsible for performing primary and secondary research on various aspects of the problem, gathering and analysing information, interacting with experts to learn more, and collaborating and brainstorming to find possible solutions to the problem – all within the ‘learning by doing’ framework,” she says.
Image: NDTV
The MLP waste was collected from across schools in the city and from the student’s housing society as well. In this process, the students also led awareness campaigns with posters, classroom presentation and placed cardboard collection boxes for MLP waste collection.
One of the students, Suhani Ravi Tewari Kaur, took the initiative to her locality as well, where her family and neighbours supported her in collecting MLP waste. Her efforts helped her get an invitation to Meghalaya, where she was invited to participate in Shillong Times’ initiative Operation Cleanup.
Sifti Kaur, another student, decided to make the initiative part of life at her housing society. She has placed cardboard boxes in each tower and encourages residents to deposit MLP waste in them, according to City Spidey.
(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)
Do you have an interesting story to share? Please write to us at [email protected]. To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
