What is Litter and Its Impacts
Litter comes from different sources, and different people. For instance, it may be intentional litter by motorists discarding litter out of windows, pedestrians dropping litter on the street or footpaths, or people on picnics and at other public space events. Household rubbish, commercial rubbish and uncontrolled building waste can become litter if not secured by a proper cover. Finally, there is rubbish from the wind, and rubbish which animals carry from sites that are not properly secured.
Litter can be harmful to people, animals and the natural environment, as it can threaten their existence and evolution. The major impacts involve the danger to public health, the risk of fire hazards, endangering, or even killing wildlife, and the serious damage to waterways. Furthermore, litter directly and indirectly affects the tourist industry and our quality of life.
Eco-Schools is one of such global sustainable school’s programme – it starts in the classroom and expands to the community by engaging the next generation in action-based learning. It's an International Certification Programme of the Foundation for Environment Education which is being offered in India since 2014-15 by the Centre for Environment Education to students from the primary school level, for classes 1-5 (6-11 years old).
In the Litter Less Campaign for the Eco-Schools programme, participating schools will implement the Campaign through the Seven Steps framework.
About Litter Less Campaign (LLC)
The Litter Less campaign is a joint initiative of the Mars Wrigley Foundation and Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) launched in 2011 and has been implemented in 35 countries. Litter Less Campaign has educated over 4 million students around the world about the challenges of litter and waste in their communities and empowered them to become leaders driving sustainability and positive behavioural change.
Through Eco-schools Programme, students will carry out litter action plans and media campaigns which aim to tackle specific litter and waste issues. These issues will be carefully selected by national operators in orders to achieve the biggest and most relevant impact in their local communities. More than 35 countries and nearly 4 million students are part of this campaign.
A Campaign with Clear Impacts
Litter less campaign has clear impacts on students’ knowledge, attitude and opinion leadership with respect to litter and waste management. The data shows that students who participated in the campaign know more about waste management, conserve more resources and are less likely to litter compared to those who do not participate in the campaign.
How to Join the Campaign?
We welcome schools across India to join this prestigious global sustainable schools campaign 'LLC'.
Following are the steps :
• Registration here (https://www.ecoschools.global/llc-registration)
• After registration, schools will be provided with LLC resources and logos to use on school stationery and school website
• Teacher in charge from the school will be provided online orientation on running the LLC with students
• Teacher will form a group of students and orient them on implementation of activities. Students staying at home will take up programme activities.
• CEE team will guide to teachers for conducting the activities and documentation of Mid-day and final reports.
• Each school will conduct activities and document their learning in a report.
• The report from school will be share to global platform (submit-report)
• The report from school will be evaluated at International level
• Best stories will be highlighted at International level
• Best school will be acknowledged by national level for selection of waste Handprint Flag Award.
• In case of any queries, please contact Eco-schools Secretariat (Toll free number 1800 1027 014) or email id [email protected]
Resources
Centre for Environment Education (CEE) has developed a set of lesson plans that go into depth with the topic of litter and waste. The lesson plans are based on the Eco-Schools methodology and cover the age range from 6 to 16 years. Simply follow the link
Campaign cycle : June 2021 to December 2021
What are the Benefits?
• Opportunity to Join International Sustainable School Programme
• Create a group of students as environment leaders who can be role models for taking action for waste management at their home
• Teacher training and ongoing support to schools to implement the programme
• Supporting global citizenship by providing ideas for exchange of learning
• Promoting international collaboration through the exchange of work
• Raising the profile of the school as part of a large global network
• Connect to other environment initiatives of FEE and CEE
Key attributes
• Knowledge of litter and waste
• Attitude and behaviour in relation to litter and waste
• Opinion leadership and active citizenship
• Building confidence by enabling students to report and take action on issues of immediate concern.
• Amount of waste sorted in schools, home and communities
Contact Person
Khushbu Shah
Project coordinator
Schools Programme
Email: [email protected]
079-26858742, +918905440208
