Green champs from schools honoured

The Energy and Resources Institute launched Phase IV of a joint initiative, Project Search (Sensitisation, Education and Awareness on Recycling for a Cleaner Habitat), on Friday with a vision to create awareness among school students and teachers about waste and popularise reducing, reusing and recycling garbage. HT reports.

The Energy and Resources Institute launched Phase IV of a joint initiative, Project Search (Sensitisation, Education and Awareness on Recycling for a Cleaner Habitat), on Friday with a vision to create awareness among school students and teachers about waste and popularise reducing, reusing and recycling garbage.

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The Phase IV of the project, which envisages setting up of collection centres in member schools for the collection of dry waste and recyclables, aims to reach 1.70 lakh children in 170 schools in Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune as well as in the Dhaka. Packaging major Tetra is a partner in the initiative.

A large number of students and teachers from several cities had gathered for an awards event to celebrate and recognise achievements of the project in the last academic session.

Chiranjiv Bharati School, Sushant Lok, Gurgaon, was declared winner in the Delhi zone that also covers the NCR. Bloom Public School and the Banyan Tree School were ranked second and third.

Harsh (who goes by one name) of CCA School, Gurgaon, bagged the first prize in the painting competition organised as a part of a “trash” festival. Abhishek Rana of International School, Rohini, and Anshul Yadav of CCA School, Gurgaon, bagged the second and the third prizes, while Siddharth Nagpal of DL DAV Public School, Pitampura, won the consolation prize.

While giving way the prizes, Robert Swan, the first person to have walked to both the North and South Poles, exhorted the students to raise the bar on recycling. Jokingly, he asked girl students to spread the message among boys that it’s trendy to protect the environment.

Quoting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Swan, who is the project ambassador of the initiative, said, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” He also announced the launch of a special contest for teachers. The winner of the competition will participate in an international expedition to Antarctica.

Those who were present on the occasion included Ashok Jaitly, distinguished fellow and mentor, TERI; Kandarp Singh, managing director, Tetra Pak South Asia Markets, and Ranjana Saikia, TERI director for educating youth for sustainable development, environmental education and awareness.

Saloni Sukul, a Class 9 student from Bloom Public School, proposed the vote of thanks.