Ann’s Grove Students benefit from composting initiative

May 4, 2018

DPI, GUYANA, Thursday, May 3, 2018

Students of Ann’s Grove Secondary School were the first to benefit from the Sanitation Management Unit of the Ministry of Communities’ composting programme yesterday. It is one of the many components under the Green Generation Guyana (3G) initiative.

[from right to left] Russhell Parris, Sanitation Management staff hands over agriculture equipment and waste receptacles to Cindy Cooper-Crandon, Headteacher, Ann’s Grove Secondary School.

Launched in 2016, the 3G initiative aims to sensitise and educate the children at the primary and secondary levels on the basic concepts of waste management. This new addition to the 3G initiative will be replicated at other secondary schools across the country.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry of Communities, Danielle Campbell-Lowe said that the aim of the initiative is to teach students the difference between organic and inorganic waste. The students also learnt the value of sorting the different types of wastes to be managed in a sustainable way for the country’s benefit and as a way to reduce the amount of waste produced.

The students were urged to not only take advantage of the information given but to put it into practice to ensure that the environment is clean and healthy.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry of Communities, Danielle Campbell-Lowe.

It was highlighted by Gordon Gilkes, Head of the Sanitation Management Unit, that the initiative will benefit those involved in the Agriculture Science Department at the school since it is a great way to convert the food scraps and yard waste into valuable, natural fertilizer that can be used in its garden. He stressed that it will also encourage and empower the students to take on a positive environmental action.

“We want to link agriculture science with composting, we all know that every day we produce waste, all kind of waste [organic and inorganic]. When farmers reap their crops, there is a lot of waste and that waste is organic which can be easily decomposed hence the ministry’s presence here, today is to show how recycling waste can produce a very important product which can be used back in the agriculture industry”, Gilkes said.

The unit also donated a compost tumbler, waste receptacles, shovels among others to the school.