STORY PREVIEW

2019

Plastic Free Zone

Khartoum International Community School

Soba Khartoum

MENTOR

Juanita Rea, Brian McDaid, Agila Attia

Step 1 FEEL

List the challenges or problems in your surroundings (school,neighbourhood etc.) that bothered you.

We were bothered by the: - pollution of the River Nile - litter on streets - single use plastic consumption in community and school

State the problem chosen to work and why.

We chose to address single use plastic consumption at school because we wanted to address the problem in a space that we made regular use of and that we could closely monitor,

Who were the people affected by the problem? What were their primary concerns?

Students, teachers, non-teaching staff felt that there were many plastic items being used regularly and unnecessarily which resulted in additional creation of waste at our school.

Step 2 IMAGINE

List ALL the different solutions you came up with.

We thought of: - making posters of create awareness and to educate students - speaking to the canteen manager to ask for her suggestions of how single use plastic consumption could be reduced - doing an assembly to inform students and staff about reducing single use plastic consumption and finding ways to - informing parents via our school bulletin

Which solution from those listed above did you choose to implement and why?

We did it all because it allowed us to make an effective immediate change to reduce single use plastic use at our school and to sustain this change through informing the wider community.

Step 3DO

Describe very briefly the process of implementing your solution(s).

We discussed our strategy in class, had meetings with the school principal and the canteen manager. We worked closely with the canteen manager who committed to stop ordering small yoghurt containers which were the biggest cause of the single use plastic waste in our cafeteria. She came up with a plan to order large tubs of yogurt which were served with fresh fruit. We decided on a timeline for execution, designed posters to inform the community about what we were doing and why and spoke at a school assembly.

What was the result or impact of your project?

Ms Mina, the canteen manager no longer ordered the small yogurt bottles that used to fill up the bins and instead served fruit and yoghurt in reusable glass bowls. We significantly reduced plastic waste in the cafeteria.

How many people were impacted by your solution(s)?

1000

What did the impacted people have to say about your project? Provide 2 quotes or testimonials:

School principal - "This is a simple and effective way for our school to become more climate active!" Student - " I am happy to see that the bins are not overflowing with plastic waste!"

What challenges did you encounter while implementing your project, and how did you overcome them?

Although we got rid of the use of small yogurt bottles, we noticed that students and staff continued to bring in other food items packaged in single use plastic. We had to keep talking to the community to get them to think of alternatives so that we could ensure that the cafeteria stayed completely free of single use plastic.

How long did it take to implement your solution?

15-30 Days

Which global goals does your story align with?

Climate Change

Please explain briefly why do you think so?

By reducing the use of single use plastic, which are not biodegradable, we are tackling one of the biggest causes of pollution that has wide-spread and long-term effects on the environment.

Step 4 SHARE

How did you share your project with your school and community? Who did you share your project with? What was their response?

The school principal thought it was a simple and effective way to become more climate active. Students were very happy to see that the bins were less full of plastic waste. The canteen manager said that her staff was happy about not having to attend to so much plastic waste. Teachers were happy that yogurt and fresh fruit was now available on the menu.

Approximately how many people did you share your story of change with?

More than 100

Briefly share your plan to sustain the impact of your project?

We will make sure that the school manager continues to have yogurt (from large tubs) and fresh fruit available on the menu. We will continue to educate and raise awareness about negative and harmful impacts of single use plastic on our environment.

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