A primary School in Aglandjia, Nicosia is promoting the love of books while building environmental awareness through recycling and reusing them.
The school is among a few in the Nicosia district that promotes organized actions for the recycling and reuse of books and textbooks.
The campaign is supported by the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute and Aravella Zachariou, the Coordinator of the Unit of Education for Environment and Sustainable Development (ESD) with the approval of the Education Ministry.
It began two and a half years ago when Ismini Pafiti, a member of the parents’ association, realized that there was no organized plan for used textbooks and other books. She briefed the other parents and the Recycling and Reuse of School and Other Books Action was born.
"Initially our goal was to collect used textbooks and notebooks and hand them over to a paper recycle company. We got in touch with a few companies and came to an agreement.
Along the way, the action gained a broader approach, we collect all kinds of books and decide what to do with them,” Pafitis told Cyprus News Agency.
A large number of books have already been collected and around 100 kilos already given to the recycling company.
For every tonne of books, the school is paid an amount of money to be used for environmental awareness events.
The teachers responsible for the Sustainable Environmental Policy go through books and decide which ones will be given for recycling, which ones can be used again, and which books can be placed in the library.
Parents and students can take books to the school at any time and announcements are made frequently to prompt them.
“The purpose is to collect school and other textbooks and to use them appropriately, to build environmental awareness in school children and their parents and to introduce appreciation and love for books in general,” said Pafitis.
The goal is for this action to become a permanent one for our school and spread in the community and other schools across the country so that all Parents’ Associations in collaboration with teachers can use tonnes of school and other textbooks to their benefit and to the benefit of the environment,” she added.
Pafitis said that students embraced the action and are happy and enthusiastic to promote it.
She also notes that recycling school uniforms was something that was discussed among the parents in and although some parents collect uniforms, the action is not done in an organized fashion.
“This is definitely a good idea to implement and we will look into it in detail”, she said. (source CNA)
