A Project for Schools: Plastic Cycles
Stiftung Bildung

“Knowledge – action – participation.” Young people want to understand how the world works. They ask a lot of questions and like to search for answers themselves. What is plastic and why do we need it? Is a world without a garbage problem even possible? How can educational methods at schools and kindergarten already influence the awareness on how to treat our planet better?

For well over 500 children at elementary schools and day-care centers in Germany, the topic of plastic and handling plastic has been at the forefront of their agenda for several months now. They established theatre and upcycling projects, as well as environmental groups. Not only in the educational environment but also within children’s families.

In accordance with the support associations at their institutions, they all applied with their different project ideas as part of the program “A plastic cycle: your ideas – our common future”. The Röchling Foundation and the donation organization Stiftung Bildung set up the fund at the end of 2018 in order to reach children directly at the educational locations and promote a responsible and creative approach regarding plastic.

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“It is inevitable that education for sustainable development starts early,” says Felicitas von Hülsen, member of the board of trustees of the Röchling Foundation who accompanies the program. “If we take children seriously and participate responsibly, it is the best investment we can make in our future,” adds Katja Hintze, Chairman of the Board of the donation financed foundation Stiftung Bildung.

Nationwide, 22 project ideas convinced the eight-member jury. The participating kindergartens and schools received up to EUR 5,000 for the implementation of their idea. In Mainz, for example, children are experimenting with their own garbage cemetery, in Ulm plastic detectives want to track down plastic at school, in Feldberg, Mecklenburg, kindergarten children award stickers to environmentally friendly shops in the area, in Flensburg a school takes the garbage problem of the neighborhood into its own hands, students in Berlin put their school on a plastic-free path with drinking fountains and glass bottles and in Hanau benches made of recycled plastic are being built.

For more information on Stiftung Bildung und the fund please visit: www.stiftungbildung.com/kunststoff-bne/