The winning school of the annual 2018/19 Schools Recycling Competition (SRC) hosted by the Recycle Namibia Forum (RNF) set a new record in the 10th edition of this much anticipated event on the local environmental sustainability calendar.
The Môreson School for the Cognitively Impaired collected in total 30 tons of recyclables, which amounts to 219kg per learner, which is a new record from the 179kg collected by the Dagbreek School in 2016 as winner in that respective year. RNF Coordinator, Anita Witt: “It is encouraging to see that the RNF Schools Recycling Competition keeps growing from strength to strength – not because of the number of schools increasing since the start of the competition to at least 40 schools, but that this competition is seen as a valuable component of the learners’ environmental education and welcome income stream for their school.”
Launched in early 2009 with 10 schools – now celebrating its 10th year – the statistics of the SRC are indicative of the increased awareness of the importance of the 3 R’s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycling – and the growing environmental awareness overall. In 2011, with 26 schools, the winning school logged 44kg per learner - which steadily climbed to 97kg per learner in 2015. Witt: “Thus, you will appreciate that the efforts of our schools during the 2018/19 campaign, which is indeed commendable – given that our winning school, Moreson – collected 219kg per learner, closely followed by Dagbreek on 212kg per learner and All Nations on 92kg per learner. What makes this achievement even more significant is that all three schools are relatively small schools with around 120 to 150 learners each. Combretum Trust and Pro Ed Academy followed in 4th and 5th places respectively – with all five winning schools being consistent Top Ten participants over the past years.”
RNF Chairperson, Gloudi de Beer emphasized that it is not only dynamic school principals and teachers that may be credited with the success of their respective schools, but interesting to see how the entire community, from parents, to neighbouring corporates or the general public, are supportive and keen contributors towards the schools’ efforts. The total volume of recyclables collected, and diverted from landfill by our schools amount to 132 tons during the past year. We applaud them for this effort. De Beer: “It would not have been possible to see this growth without our sponsors. Here, special appreciation goes to our partner Rent-A-Drum for their support to empty, weigh and keep track of the volumes and logging of data for the competition. We are most grateful to our RNF members who have sponsored new or effected repairs to old stands – thus enabling more schools to join the competition – and we also appreciate the sponsorship of the prizes by our members. It is thus with great pleasure that we can announce that with the ongoing support of Rent-A-Drum and our members, the competition will be expanded to include the towns of Oranjemund and Rundu during the course of this year. We are confident that the youth in both towns are keen to participate and show their commitment as well towards a cleaner and greener Namibia tomorrow.”
The results of the 2018/19 competition are as follows:
Winners:
1st Place
Môreson School: (219.31kg per learner)
Prize money: N$10 000, 00 sponsored by Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) – a subsidiary of the Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group.
2nd Place
Dagbreek School: (212.39kg per learner)
Prize money: N$5 000, 00 sponsored by Collect-a-Can.
3rd Place
All Nations Christian School: (92.48kg per learner)
Prize money: N$2 500, 00 sponsored by Plastic Packaging.
3rd Place
Combretum Trust: (11.78kg per learner)
Prize money: N$2 000, 00 sponsored by Rent-A-Drum.
4th Place
Pro Ed Academy: (9.05kg per learner)
Prize money: N$1 000, 00 sponsored by Rent-A-Drum.
Best Improved School Winner:
1st Place
Môreson School
An increase from 10 to 30 tons. Prize: Trip to NaDEET (sponsored by NaDEET)
2nd Place
Dawid Bezuidenhout Secondary School
8 tons in 6 month. Prize: Trip to B2 Gold Environmental Education Centre (sponsored by B2 Gold).
