WASTE MANAGEMENT
Awareness raising and sorting at source in schools
MedCities liaised with Mennieh Union to implement an awareness raising campaign addressing all the schools within the Union, providing means for waste separation and assuring a separated collection system.
Tags: waste management, Mediterranean cities, Lebanon
Challenges addressed
- Increased percentage of vulnerable population in the Union due to the influx of displaced Syrians.
- Increased demand for municipal services including solid waste management, as a result of the population increase.
- Low levels of awareness of the importance of sorting at source to decrease waste reaching landfill.
- Lack of sorting equipment and of a recyclables collection service for the schools of the Union.
Main objectives
Promoting a local approach to improving living conditions and lifestyle of students and staff by raising awareness of the importance of sorting at source and waste management in general.
- Empower local administrations in supporting students’ awareness with respect to waste management.
- Facilitate the exchange of experiences and collaboration among municipalities facing similar challenges.
- Spread among school students the culture of sorting at source.
- Reduce the amount of waste disposed in the landfill.
- Activate the participation of teachers and students in the implementation of municipal activities.
Facts
Project type Technical Assistance
Promoter
MedCities
Mennieh Union of Municipalities
with the support of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona
Catalan Agency for Development and Cooperation
Partners
28 schools, North Lebanon Educational Region, local volunteers.
Beneficiaries
School students, staff and teachers from 5 municipalities.
Start date Oct. – Dec. 2018
Project description
Mennieh Union of Municipalities has a population of around 100 000 inhabitants and also hosts approximately 35 000 displaced Syrians. This has resulted in an increase of waste generation, the collection of which is the responsibility of the Union.
MedCities liaised with Mennieh Union to implement an awareness raising campaign addressing all the schools within the Union, providing means for waste separation and assuring a separated collection system.
In order to be able to address the 28 (out of 31) schools which participated, and to assure the sustainability of the action, the approach included a “training the trainers component” in which 126 volunteers from the schools and municipalities increased their knowledge on integrated waste management systems, the impacts caused by waste on the environment and human health, sorting at source schemes, and methods and tools for awareness-raising that addressed various age groups.
The training was followed by an enthusiastic and intense campaign in all 28 schools combined with the delivery of sorting containers and equipment. The Union then initiated a separated collection system for the sorted waste.
The action was implemented in coordination with a sorting at source project in the Urban Community of Al Fayhaa – in which MedCities participated – and with other initiatives aiming to stimulate cooperation on waste management focused in Mennieh.
Impact and results
- 28 schools engaged in the sorting at source of waste, through the support of the Education Department for North Lebanon.
- 126 volunteers engaged and trained on sorting at source and awareness raising and carriedout ca. 600 actions.
- 14,730 students from preschool to secondary school engaged in awareness rising activities and sorting practices.
- Collaboration between different initiatives begun and synergies between them promoted.
- 289 sorting containers distributed.
- Separated collection system established.
Reference images & videos
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