Primary school students at Hong Kong Academy have taken the initiative to improve their neighbourhood through collecting recyclable materials. With help from waste management company Ecovision, Recyclobins have been installed at the school campus on Stubbs Road. Every morning when children get off the school bus, the first thing they do is drop their plastic bottles, used paper or aluminium cans into the Recyclobins. In the three months between last November and this January, the small primary school, with only 200 students, has collected more than one tonne of recyclable waste. Phoebe Wilson, Robert Cheah, both eight, and Elah Horwitz, nine, are part of the Rubbish Ranger team who teach schoolmates about the importance of recycling. In an environmental course led by teachers Amy Stombaugh and Felicity Pettigrew, the Year Three students visited a landfill in Kowloon and saw recyclable materials being thrown away. 'We felt bad when we saw the rubbish. People don't know much about recycling,' said the students. 'The rubbish collected after last year's Mid Autumn Festival could make a pile higher than the IFC2 in Central.' They also visited supermarkets and wet markets and found that wet markets use less packaging, which means less wastage. 'Parents have also been influenced by their children. A mother now doesn't buy fruit juice in boxes. Instead she uses recyclable bottles,' said Ms Stombaugh. Students not only bring in their own domestic junk, they also collect from neighbours and even write to their building's management for support. 'Sometimes the building management wrote back but didn't do anything,' the students said. 'So we do it here at school.' Walter Plotkin, the school's head, praised the effort made by the students, teachers and parents. 'The kids made it happen. When they see success from something they have initiated, it reinforces their learning,' he said. 'That's powerful learning. Students also try to do more - we can see their habits changing. Once they start on this path it's difficult for them not to continue.' Ecovision is planning to implement the Recyclobins programme in other schools. 'It is not only about recycling, it is also community service,' said Robyn Joseph, an adviser to Ecovision. 'It is about how we can help and contribute to improve our community. 'This is our pilot scheme and I hope its success will be an inspiration to other schools.'
