Talking About Alternatives to Single-use Plastic in Class

Por NOE DANIEL SEGOVIA ACOSTA
Jun 16th, 2021

All we do has an impact, it depends on us whether that impact is good or not so good.

Second graders at Loyola Comunidad Educativa in Mexico,  are learning that nowadays plastic has become into something so common that it may be difficult to imagine our lives without it. However, as plastic has been over produced and over consumed, it also has become into a problem for ecosystems, polluting our seas, rivers and lakes.

Learning about how to interact, not only with people but also with our surroundings, opens the possibility to collaborate in harmonic ways and share responsibilities to promote healthier relationships with our environment that ultimately will be for the benefit for all. Kids are like sponges that absorb as much information as they see around them. At school we are learning about alternatives and ways to be more sustainable, and find ways together to become more conscious about the impact of reducing our plastic consumption and know the different alternatives to plastic.

Analyzing our habits.

We made a fun activity in one of the online classes. I showed students my fridge and cabinets. There were some plastic packagings and containers inside them, and the kids needed to identify the type of plastic and tell me some alternatives to those products or packagings that I could opt for when buy, so I could be more sustainable.

As they identified and named the plastics products, they also counted the amount of plastics I had. This helped us realizing how much trash a person or a family produces every time they go shopping for groceries. Among the alternatives they suggested there were fabric bags, reusable containers and metal straws.

We also learned that separating our residues could be a first step to get to know more about our habits and that by upcycling, contributing to the recycling process and making a compost are also good ways to help.

Making students aware that taking care of our common home is important. By showing them the alternatives and possibilities we have by doing simple actions, hopefully, will help to develop more conscious habits for them in the future.