The Siggiewi Local Council will organise two Christmas events aimed at promoting the use of recycled material and the reuse of waste material mainly plastic bottles and paper. These events integrate the cultural aspect of the locality with environmental education.

Eco-Christmas Tree
The Siggiewi Local Council will install an Eco-Christmas Tree made from hundreds of plastic bottles. The bottles will be collected through a campaign held at the Siggiewi Primary School and a campaign with households in the community. The Christmas Tree will be created by a number of volunteers and placed next to the statute of St Nicholas in Pjazza San Nikola. The aim of this installation is:

a. to raise awareness of our need to be more diligent recyclers.
b. to promote creative ways for the reuse of waste material.

The installation will be organised between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 November 2015. The provision of plastic bottles will be mainly provided by the community. The Siggiewi Local Council will also make a formal request to Wasteserv for the provision of any plastic bottles needed in excess to the amount provided by the community.

Eco-Christmas Decoration

Siggiewi having St. Nicholas as its patron saint has cultural ties to the Christmas season. On Saturday 28 November 2015, the Local Council will organise a 4 hour session for children (aged 6-10 years) during which they will enhance their knowledge on the life and story of St. Nicholas and the saint’s relation to Christmas. They will later participate in educational activities which promote the use of recycled paper and reuse of waste products.

Children will follow a 45 minute educational talk on St. Nicholas after which they will be provided with a poster printed on recycled paper. The poster will include a ‘fill-in the blank exercise’ on the life and story of St. Nicholas as well as pictures for a colouring exercise by participants.

During this part of the activity children will be made aware of the importance of recycling and avoiding excessive consumption of paper. A facilitator will explain how paper is produced and the effect of its high consumption on the environment. Children are therefore made aware of:

a. the importance of separating waste so as to recycle material such as paper.
b. the need of reducing use of paper by educating on excessive consumption.
c. the benefits to the environment by using recycled paper.

Participants will then engage in another part of the session during which they will create a decorative frame for their poster making use of cardboard from already used cardboard boxes and wine corks. While creating these Christmas posters, children are therefore encouraged to use their creativity to develop a decoration by reusing material that households would normally dispose of in their waste.

This activity aims at encouraging reuse of disposed material as well as the use of recycled paper whilst enhancing cultural knowledge related to the village of Siggiewi.