A New Step in Waste Separation at Elementary Schools
On Thursday, August 27, De Zjwiek Elementary School in Roggel became the first school in our municipality to symbolically receive new waste management facilities from Stan Backus, a member of the “ Alderman .”
Photo: Group photo of De Zjwiek Roggel
For nearly 10 years, we have been working with RD Maasland to promote waste separation at elementary schools in Leudal. With the new waste management facilities, we’re taking it a step further: recovering even more raw materials from residual waste, thereby enabling even more reuse. Together, we’re on the path to a waste-free school.
Why take this step?
Much of what we throw away isn't waste, but a valuable raw material. By teaching children to sort their trash at a young age, we help reduce residual waste and increase recycling, both now and in the future.
Through the “Waste-Free School” project, we as a municipality are helping to invest in new facilities, guidance, and awareness-raising, so that schools’ own financial contributions remain limited and they can easily get started with waste separation.
With the raw materials container and the Environmental Box, schools can now also separate items such as small broken electrical appliances, wood, Styrofoam, and leftover paint, instead of letting them end up in the general waste. The better we sort our waste, the more valuable raw materials we recover.
What do schools receive?
Participating schools will receive smaller containers for general waste and paper, a new container for recyclables—including broken electrical appliances, wood, and Styrofoam—and the “Milieubox” for “ Household Hazardous Waste ” such as leftover paint. PMD and organic waste will be collected via the existing household waste routes. This ensures that the different types of waste end up in the right place and can be processed into raw materials for new products.
More schools are following suit
Following De Zjwiek Elementary School, all participating schools in the municipality of Leudal received the new facilities. A total of 28 schools in the region are already participating in the “Waste-Free School” program, 18 of which are putting the new facilities into use.