Students encouraged to help protect the environment

The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation’s inaugural EcoChampions School Tour aims to encourage students across the island to play their part in protecting the environment.

This was emphasised by Director of Corporate Communications and Public Relations Branch in the ministry, Dannie Clarke, who spoke to students during the tour’s stop at the Negril/Green Island Local Planning Authority (NEGALPA) in Westmoreland, recently.

“EcoChampions is all about how it is that you guys, whether you’re in primary school or if you’re in high school, can do something, however small it is, to impact the environment,” Clarke said to the 250 students from primary and high schools in Hanover and Westmoreland in attendance.

She also encouraged the students to educate their peers on environmental dos and don’ts.

“It is all about educating you, the young people, so that you can be EcoChampions for Jamaica. We want you to be ambassadors of the environment,” Clarke charged.

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“So, when you go back to your school, you are going to say to your classmates, you’re not supposed to throw your garbage on the street, you’re not supposed to be using a single-use plastic bottle, you’re supposed to walk with your water container to school, you’re not supposed to burn garbage, and you’re also supposed to plant a tree when you cut down a tree,” she said.

Clarke also highlighted the Government’s ban on single-use plastic, which was implemented in three phases, beginning in 2019.

The ban covers 24” x 24” polyethylene or polypropylene plastic bags (scandal bags), as well as the use of polyethylene or polypropylene plastic drinking straws.

It also covers packaging made wholly or in part of expanded polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) used in the food and beverage industry and single-use polyethylene or polypropylene plastic bags, which were used in department stores, as well as plastic drinking straws attached to or forming part of the packaging of juice boxes and drink pouches.

Clarke informed the students that the ban will be extended to other products next year.

During the event, students interacted with representatives from several agencies of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, who educated them on each division’s functions.

The event also featured a Sustainable Innovation Challenge, where schools proposed solutions to local environmental problems.

Students from Mount Airy Primary School in Westmoreland topped the competition.