Hands-on lessons to encourage recycling
Update: 05/02/2009
Hands-on learning has given Dao Thuy Duong, 10, an invaluable lesson in how to think about waste.
The fourth-grader was among almost 600 pupils from Ha Noi’s Thanh Cong A, Thanh Cong B and Nam Thanh Cong primary schools who were given six lesson in the 3R model – reduce, reuse, recycle - in early October, 2008.
The lessons were part of a pilot programme intended to teach third and fourth graders how to go about separating domestic garbage.
The students were told about the overload of household waste in Ha Noi; its various types and how to classify waste at home, at school, and in community for its treatment using the 3R model.
This included the recyclable - paper, metal, plastic, glass - the organic - food - and the inorganic - construction waste such as building materials.
"I have watched TV programmes about waste many times," says Duong.
"I thought learning to deal with it would be difficult but the colourful 3R textbooks made me more curious and interested than I expected."
Waste not, want not
Ha Noi discharged 850,000 tonnes of waste last year, the city’s Science and Technology Department figures show.
That figure is forecast to double by 2010.
"About 3,000 tonnes of garbage arrived at the city’s biggest dump - Nam Son in the Soc Son District, each day, says Transport Department official Le Van Duc.
"The total is expected to rise 15 per cent each year and the dump will be filled by 2018," he says.
Only 20 per cent of waste is recycled.
The Ha Noi People’s Committee wants that increased to 30 per cent in the next decade.
Previous efforts to have householders classify their rubbish for the necessary separate bins have failed.
The cost of carrying the rubbish to the dump and little awareness about the importance of recycling contributed to the lack of success.
But the Japanese-sponsored five-year project to support the 3R initiative in Ha Noi could help prevent further failure.
"We will co-ordinate with the Ha Noi People’s Committee and the Women’s Association to maintain the results of the project," says Yamauchi.
"District officials will also work to enhance the residents’ awareness about the importance of separating waste at its source of discharge so that it can be recycled.
"‘Mottainai’ is a Japanese word that means it’s a "pity for something to be wasted" and we want the people of Ha Noi to accept that concept," he says.
Group discussion and after-class songs and games also helped.
"Now I know not only how to classify rubbish but also the importance of the knowledge because it helps us treat waste to keep our environment clean," Duong says.
Thanh Cong A Primary School teacher Nguyen Khanh Van says: "My students liked the classes.
"The teaching aids, including models of rubbish bins and waste, helped them understand and remember their lessons.
"I also learned to understand more about 3R."
The programme was part of a five-year project launched in June 2006 with US$3 million from the Japanese International Co-operation Agency.
"Teaching children to classify trash is very important because they tell their parents and relatives," says Hisashi Yamauchi, who helps oversee the project.
"A similar programme to educate students about the environment has been introduced to primary schools throughout Japan.
"It has been also successfully applied in Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand."
Surveys show that 96 per cent of the students who attended the classes of the Ha Noi pilot programme now understand the 3R system.
More than 200 teachers from primary schools have attended Ha Noi Education and Training Department classes in teaching the 3R methodology and it is expected to extend the programme to all the city’s schools.
"Separation of waste at its source is crucial to the reduction of pollution," says the department’s Pham Xuan Tien.