The school started by promoting literacy on environment and energy conservation among students and later carried the momentum to waste management.
“Waste management is an excellent way to teach students about cleanliness and discipline. We have made waste management one of the school’s priorities and provided a budget to support it. We have sent our staff to receive training to gain better insights and understanding. The school has also introduced the energy and environment conservation team tasked with launching the campaign to use their acquired knowledge from training to educate teachers and students. Teachers of all learning groups are key persons to drive the campaign,” school principal Dr. Plernjai Prugsachatrat proudly explained.
Every Classroom Gets Gold Flag
When waste management practices weren’t in place, nearly all classrooms at Ratchananthachan Samsen Witthayalai 2 School were filled with all kinds of rubbish. For this reason, the student council has initiated the program “Classroom of Pleasantness, Cleanliness, and Integrity” to implement waste management in the classroom. The project is conducted in collaboration with the energy and environment conservation team led by the head of learning groups and teacher Rattapon Nunkratok.
“We provided two bins in every classroom: the yellow one for plastic waste and the blue one for paper waste. All students are instructed to only discard these two types of waste in the classroom, while other waste types must be dropped at a designated bin points. Every day, the student council members will evaluate each classroom’s performance and issue an assessment report on Line group chat. The classroom that meets the criteria will be awarded a white flag. The flag presentation ceremony is held weekly. The classroom awarded white flags for four weeks in a row will be given a gold flag. Students of the awarded classroom will be proud of the achievements; this has helped motivate other classrooms to make more efforts to achieve the same status. Up until now, all classrooms attain gold flags.”
Happy Friday with Eco-Friendly Waste Bank
The campaign has broadened to other areas than just keeping the classroom clean. All classrooms must deposit the garbage they collected to the Eco-Friendly Waste Bank.
“Our waste bank is open every Friday, and everyone knows that this is the time they have to deposit the waste at the bank. The student council friends and I will sort and record all waste items via the KoomKah application before selling it to the waste collector. And after a year has passed, we will issue a dividend payout. Even though the payout isn’t that high, we attain something greater: it is a pride for making the school cleaner and more pleasant.” Monday or Master Natchapon Seuaplio, a student from class 2/3, who serves as a waste bank manager, talked about the implementation with a smile.
“I am proud and very happy to study at Ratchananthachan Samsen Witthayalai 2 School.”
Adequate Waste Separation Setup
One key factor contributing to effective waste management at school is that they separate each trash type appropriately. The bins are provided where waste typically occurs on top of trying not to produce more waste in the school.
The school’s practical waste management approach has resulted in an honorable mention award from a national competition, “Zero Waste School.” The award has signified the school’s achievement in shaping its students to be good and responsible citizens.
