A PILOT recycling project by the Seberang Prai Muni-cipal Council (MPSP) has succeeded in driving home the importance of recycling among a group of SJK (C) Kwang Hwa Butterworth pupils.
Since the project was introduced last May, more than 1,800 pupils from Year Four, Five and Six, have been bringing recyclable household items to school.
Green curriculum: SJK (C) Kwang Hwa Butterworth pupils are doing their bit to save the earth under a recycling project by the Seberang Prai Municipal Council. School senior assistant Kor Hooi Yen, who is in charge of co-curricular activities, said the items collected were newspapers, cardboard, plastic bottles, polymer plastics, aluminum tins and other metals.
Each pupil is given a special MPSP recycling passbook to record the items they deposit at the school’s recycling centre and points are given to them.
Thinking green: SJK(C) Kwang Hwa Butterworth's Environment and Recycling Club members showing off their MPSP recycling passbook. With them are Lim (with tie), Kor (in purple) and Soon (white shirt, centre). The items are then sent to junkyards and the pupils, in return, receive cash based on the weight of the items they deposited.
Kor said members of the school’s Environment & Recycling Club, which conducted the activity, had allocated Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively for Year Four, Five and Six pupils to hand over their recyclable items.
Overwhelmed by the idea of getting something in return for their recyclables, many pupils would pestered their parents to donate items towards the project, said Kor.
Environment-conscious: Pupils sorting out recyclable items at the school's recycling centre. “Some pupils would even ask their parents to buy bottled mineral water so that they could bring the empty bottles to school for recycling,” she added.
She said the school was highly encouraged by the pupils’ enthusiasm.
“We are glad that their parents and family members are playing an active role in this effort,” she said.
Kor said Intel Penang, which was a partner in the project, would send its appointed contractor to collect the recyclable items from the school’s recycling centre twice a week.
She said Intel, which bought the items at 10 sen per kg from the school, would record the quantum of recycled items it collected.
The information will be entered for its annual inter-school recycling competition.
School headmaster Lim Geok Eong commended the pupils and teachers for their hard work and thanked the council’s Local Agenda 21 initiative for providing assistance to make the project a success.
“We hope this recycling project can help influence families to do their bit to protect the environment,” he said.
Lim said they were planning to extend the project to all 2,200 pupils from Year One to Year Six this year.
He said the school had in 2007 and 2008 emerged champion in Intel Penang’s inter-school recycling contest and received seven laptops as its prize.
“Last year, we also gave out recyclable bags during our prize- giving day and banned the use of polyfoam utensils during our canteen day,” he said.
Seberang Prai Municipal Councillor Soon Lip Chee said he picked the school, which was his alma mater, for the pilot project because of its keen interest in recycling.
He said the MPSP was keen to work with other schools in Seberang Prai if they were committed in participating.
Soon said the council planned to extend the project to SJK (C) Chung Hwa (1) on Jalan Telaga Air and SJK (C) Li Hua in Sungai Puyu.
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