More information
Description
Twelve schools and seven kindergartens in the area of Pomorie, in partnership with IDN Norway, will design and conduct educational campaigns to inform about resource management, waste recycling and circular economy. Experts in the field will elaborate numerous educational courses to be included in the national undergraduate curriculum. Other activities include demonstrations on waste recycling in schools, pairing with Norwegian schools to examine and apply their approach as to how circular economy is taught in school and effective public awareness initiatives to involve the public in the process.
To engage the community in this initiative, the project also envisages the organisation of an eco-tournament between educational institutions by conducting different types of eco-competitions between children from different age groups and 2 promotional-demonstration excursions for students from Hristo Botev Primary School in Bata village and for Sv. Paisii Hilendarski Primary School in Kableshkovo, both aimed at acquiring practical knowledge about recycling, waste reuse and the circular economy among the young generation.
More information about the project could be found at the following web site:
Summary of project results
The main challenge that the project aimed to address was to develop and implement different educational campaigns aiming at awareness rising regarding resource management, waste recycling and circular economy among diverse educational institutions on territory of Pomorie Municipality, incl. 12 schools and 7 kindergartens and among the general public.
As a result from the project activities, eduational programs are differentiated into the following 8 areas regarding the circular economy and waste recycling were developed:
1. Thematic Area No. 1. Plastics;
2. Thematic Area No. 2. Glass;
3. Thematic Area No. 3. Paper and Cardboard;
4. Thematic Area No. 4. Textiles;
5. Thematic Area No. 5. Metals and Alloys;
6. Thematic Area No. 6. Unusable Batteries and Accumulators (UBA) with a focus on batteries;
7. Thematic Area No. 7. Biodegradable Waste (for composting); and
8. Thematic Area No. 8. Circular Economy in the Context of Enterprises (the private sector).
For each of the 8 thematic areas mentioned above, 2 different programs tailored to the specific age group for which they are intended, in order to conduct educational campaigns on them, were elaborated. Thus, a total of 16 separate programs were developed: - One program for each of the 8 thematic areas, applicable to preschool children aged 5 to 7 years old; and - One program for each of the 8 thematic areas, applicable to students in the primary and lower secondary levels of basic education aged 7 to 14 years old.
in addition, 17 different campaigns were developed and conducted to raise awareness regarding the circular economy and waste recycling. Of these, 8 were aimed at children and youth aged 7 to 14 years (in schools), 8 targeted children aged 5 to 7 years (in kindergartens), and 1 was a general campaign directed towards the broader public.
Also, three different promotional-demonstration initiatives have been carried out in support of recycling and the reuse of waste in educational institutions in the municipality of Pomorie. These initiatives include the purchase and dissemination of 114 containers for separate collection of various types of waste, which were placed in 19 different educational institutions in the municipality of Pomorie, including 12 schools and 7 kindergartens. In each educational institution, 1 set has been placed, including 6 types of containers: for batteries; for plastic and metal; for paper and cardboard; for glass; a composter; 1 set of 4 combined bins for the separate collection of packaging. Another initiative was an eco-tournament held with the participation of 97 children and students from all educational institutions in the territory of the municipality of Pomorie, including various types of eco-competitions, divided into: - 3 categories according to the age group of the participants: 5-7 years; 8-10 years and 11-14 years; - 8 categories according to the type of waste based on 8 thematic directions. Last but not least, 2 student promotional-demonstration excursions were conducted for a total of 80 students, from Pomorie region.
A total of 23 teachers from various educational institutions in the Pomorie Municipality were also trained during a seminar on the transfer of good practices for educational campaigns regarding resource management, waste recycling, and the circular economy in kindergartens and primary schools where the experience and good practices of the Norwegian partner were shared.
One of the main problems of the education system in Bulgaria, in general, is the lack of continuity and compliance of the knowledge acquired by children in pre-school education, received in the majority of cases in kindergartens and the knowledge needed to start the initial stage of the primary educational degree carried out in schools. It is for this reason that the impacts under the project benefited mainly various educational institutions, which provided opportunities not only for improving the capacity of the pedagogical experts, but to increase the knowledge of children from different age groups on circular economy and waste recycling.
Summary of bilateral results
For its part, the Norwegian partner - International Development Norway is one of the largest research organizations in the Scandinavian countries. It added value to the configured project partnership through its significant experience in the implementation of projects with international cooperation and those in the field of the circular economy, environmental protection, technology and sustainable development, which fully met the specifics of the project and were very helpful for increasing the competence of the Bulgarian experts.