Introduction –

At St. Theresa’s College, Imrieħel Malta, we are relying our campaign on “Invisible Waste” on the fact that we get to actually see the invisible litter around us, and therefore understand the scale of the problem and perceive the impact on the environment when we dispose of litter in inappropriate ways. This is the biggest challenge we face, because litter around us has become invisible to our eyes since we have been accustomed to it as being part of our environment. Although as a nation we have been talking about this issue, the average citizen doesn’t seem to notice it. Inspired by this year’s campaign for “Invisible Waste”, we are aiming to help two clusters of students form the School Council and Geography Option groups to connect with this theme and care about the litter that they can’t see, and then reach out nationwide. We envisage 5 ways to make this happen.

Phase 1: Show the Effects of Invisible Waste –

We may be indifferent about this issue, but most of us do care about the environment we live in. As a first phase, we are entrusting our chosen sets of students to carry out an online survey amongst the school community in an attempt to understand which waste is commonly disposed in our country side, according to their knowledge, and to which extent Invisible Waste is affecting our daily lives. Furthermore, they will be tasked to study and analyse such results, discuss them, and promote an Anti-Invisible Waste campaign within the school community for this current scholastic year.

 Phase 2: Let Students Experience the Issue themselves –

We consider hands-on experience as a vital way of learning, so what is better than letting our students see for themselves? Our intention is to send out these 2 clusters out in the nearby countryside armed with cleaning equipment to clean-up a designated area of 100m² area. Our students will not only be tasked to clean-up, but they will also be assigned to take detailed notes of all the waste they collect in order to produce a realistic spectrum of which waste is thrown and in what quantity. Through this activity, students will got to grips with the issue and won’t forget it in a hurry.

Phase 3: Share/Compare the Results and the Experience –

This is it! We now have results to compare: what students think according to the online survey conducted in phase 1 and what we actually experienced on the field. Throughout this phase, we will understand if there is a discrepancy between what we believe is harming our environment and what we actually collected. Then we can get back to the school community and show them what we have learned.

Phase 4: Adopting an Action Plan to Create Awareness –

Now we can adopt and execute an action plan to create awareness not only amongst the school community but also amongst their extended families. We believe that by doing so, the school community learns about and understands the negative effects if we remain immune to see invisible waste around us.

Phase 5: Share the Love and the Experience –

Now that we have understood what Invisible Waste is, we can share this experience on social media and local newspapers with the aim of creating a nation wide awareness. We will also share our love towards the environment.