Responsible: On a recent return trip to Cambodia, our family initiated an environmental program in some rural schools in the Takeo province. In earlier years when we visited the schools, we were alarmed by the amount of plastic bags littering the ground and floating in the waterways of the Mekong Delta. Eliminating the bags is a bigger issue so we chose to recycle.
Our approach was to educate the children in a RESPONSIBLE way to repurpose plastic bags into something useful. In three days the children of one school (70children) collected over 3000 plastic bags from the school grounds and in their village.
We cut the bags and plaited strands and then twisted several plaits into a strong rope which could be ultised for many purposes. We chose skipping ropes, which were a great hit and we skipped away singing many nursery rhymes and schoolyard favorites from my childhood. Another project we undertook was the responsible disposal of drinking straws.
Each day as we cycled to school, we were bewildered by the straw tide mark that lapped the roads edge. We encouraged the children to collect straws over the next three days and they collected thousands of discarded straws which would ultimately have ended up in the waterways.
After sorting by colour and playing counting games in English, we placed them in an empty water bottle and capped the lid for responsible disposal.
We tied more bottles to each classroom wall, to enable the children to continue collecting and responsibly disposing them.
