In January 2020, the Seeds of Knowledge and Dynamic Developers home schooling groups banded together to throw a zero-waste carnival. The project began some years ago and was started to help children develop entrepreneurship skills. Over four years, the Seeds of Knowledge group began to realise that their fiestas created waste and they wanted a solution.
After months of planning the first task was to teach children why they were doing this. The children attended workshops, learned recycling and composting and even did a workshop with Irverde. The Irverde team worked at the fiesta telling people about the environment and sorted all the trash.
The children were divided into two groups: volunteers and stallholders. The volunteers were generally the older children who had worked at the fiesta before and wanted a chance to help out. The volunteers worked hard and the fiesta worked well.
How did the groups pull this off? Well, first of all, all food items were packed for takeaway in compostable or recyclable packaging. To eat at the fiesta, visitors rented cutlery and plates for a minimal fee. Some people brought their own cutlery. Even though it wasn’t a requirement, many children also followed zero-waste protocols while producing their products. Seeds of Knowledge managed to pull off something they had been thinking about for a long time!
It’s important to understand that the purpose of the carnival was to spread awareness, have fun, and help the children begin to apply zero-waste principles into their daily lives! Since Covid-19 the group has been affected, and the homeschoolers are no longer able to meet up.
Seeds of Knowledge will try to do more environmental projects in the future, even if it means they have to do it online. People can make a difference, no matter where they are!
Check out more of Seeds of Knowledge activities here
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