On Wednesday 18 September, we organized a school clean up, in conjunction with the World Clean Up Day 2019. We collaborated with the local association Roulé mon z'avirons, who are the Reunionese representatives of the World Clean Up Day.

During 3 hours, teachers and students (either from selected classes or volunteer eco-students), armed with gloves and rubbish bags, went hunting for trash in and around the lycée. All in all, about 150 students were mobilized, and we picked up around 80kg of waste. We then weighed it, sorted it out into the correct bins, and got to know better what out school restaurant does in terms of waste management.

At the same time, we held class debates focusing on the question of waste. Students were motivated!

We hope to repeat this action regularly, but we won't stop there. We found that our school generates too much trash: we're going to have to find ways to motivate students and staff to reduce their waste and to use the correct bins. We're also going to try reduce waste from the restaurant ( by composting?).

The following year, we did another Clean Up, this time in November. Here is an article written by our eco-students:

On Monday 23rd November 2020, seven small groups of students from the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry high school decided to fight against waste pollution in the school. The waste was collected and sorted directly, with a black bag for non-recyclable waste and a white bag for the recyclables. The results speak for themself, and are alarming. In just thirty minutes, more than five kilos of waste was collected. It seems some places seem to have been designated as rubbish bins, such as the green space in front of building E for example. Chip packets, bottles, cafeteria sauce wrappers, cigarette butts, they are everywhere... But not in the bins. Indeed, if the waste is easily found on the ground, it is rarer to see the bins full of them (see photos below).

The success and necessity of this action pushes us to renew it, because nobody likes to live in the middle of waste. This is the message of all of us who gave our time to collect waste that was not ours. "Just throw your rubbish in the bin!" It is not a complicated gesture, it is not long, it is just a normal and civic gesture. Let's live together, in a clean place. Waste has its place, and it's the dustbin, not the green spaces...

The group of eco students.