KAZKAHSTAN

On the 22nd of October two significant events took place in the Secondary school №16 of Temirtau: the start of the Litter Less Campaign and the annual school conference.
At the opening of a new phase of the campaign the students talked about recearch which was already completed or has been planned. For example, Gummetali Mammadov and Tanya Shcherbakova, 6th grade students, collected garbage for about a week and created the garbage monster. They counted what kind of garbage is "most popular" in the school, where it comes from and what we need to do to have less litter. How to beat the "garbage monster" in school has become a key issue for all participants!
But the event wasn't limited only to presentations of research: the guests and the participants were divided into groups and received an assignment - to draw up an action plan for the Litter Less campaign.
Everyone was active: the older students and the newcomers from 5th grade, who generated a large number of useful ideas. The students are ready to implement these new ideas in their lives. 
Special guests of the event were students from boarding school №2 for children with special needs, who also participate in the campaign.  They spoke about their work in the campaign, such as training for kindergartens and using waste materials in art.

KAZKAHSTAN

On November 15, the World Day of recycling, the participants of the Litter Less campaign conducted training for Primary school students of 2nd and 3rd grades. The children learned why this day is celebrated, what litter is, where it comes from and why it is dangerous. Young reporters explained to them how to minimize and sort waste and shared the knowledge and information they had gained through YRE research.
On this day the first results of the school waste paper collection contest were also announced. "This competition is held from October to April and covers the entire school. Currently the leader is Zharlikov Yuri, a 7th grade student, who has already collected over 139 kg of waste paper", - said Lydmila Bushman, teacher supervisor of YRE programme and Litter Less campaign.

SLOVAKIA

Young Reporters decided to organize a Garbage Day for younger pupils with a goal to increasing their knowledge and providing an interesting experience.

The day started at the school club by gathering of all 3rd grade pupils. A presentation about waste given by Young Reporters was followed by a discussion about waste separation at home and some common mistakes were pointed out.

Next came a surprise: pupils dressed up as walking garbage boxes – one each of blue, red, green, and yellow. Each “box” introduced itself and what it “eats“. Then a mixture of waste was emptied on the ground and young pupils were asked to sort them out into corresponding boxes.

The day continued with creative workshops and activities e.g. a “garbage path” to experience various kinds of waste barefoot, recognition of types of waste with a blindfold and finally a search for a treasure guarded by a waste mummy.  

Older pupils built-up compost bins from old wooden pallets to produce compost at the school garden.  

At the end of the day, each classroom received a new bin for collection of organic waste.

Article written by Young Reporters: http://www.mladireporteri.sk/den-odpadov&theme=litterless

SLOVAKIA

Young Reporters from Zakladna skola Ing. O. Kozucha decided to take another step in order to reduce amount of waste at their school. They identified organic waste as the biggest problem (paper waste, milk cartons, plastics, glass, aluminium cans, electric waste, and batteries have already been collected for recycling).

The pupils first addressed the canteen manager and found out that peels from fruits and vegetables are dumped as communal waste, though there is a compost pile in the school garden. They suggested to change the habit.

To find out if their classmates would be willing to collect remains of fruit to extra bins, they prepared a short questionnaire, and disseminated it to more than 180 pupils.

Based on good results, new waste bins have been bought and installed in three places: next to the entrance to school canteen, at the changing room for pupils and in front of the school. Above the bins, a poster with instructions has been placed.

Furthermore, the pupils negotiated the interval of emptying the bins with the headmaster, and have taken responsibility for this job.

The pupils believe, that thanks to implementation of organic-waste collection, there will be enough compost for planting more medicinal herbs.

Article written by Young Reporters: http://www.mladireporteri.sk/co-s-bioodpadom-zo-skolskej-jedalne-0&theme=litterless 

CHINA

December 7th, 2016, the launch ceremony of the 6th year of Litter Less Campaign was held in a primary school in Nanjing, China.

300 representatives from CEEC, Wrigley Confectionery China, pilot schools and Environmental Protection Bureau, Education Bureau, Urban Administration Bureau of Nanjing, attended the ceremony.

Litter Less Campaign is a joint initiative of the Wrigley Company Foundation and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) on litter. In China, it’s implemented by Center for Environmental Education and Communications of Ministry of Environmental Protection (CEEC).

ROMANIA

The YRE National Winners Workshop was held between 3-5 June 2016, near the town of Radauti, Romania. 30 people in total attended the three-day workshop.

On day 1 the programme included the arrival of guests and an introduction with ice-breakers.

On day 2 participants met with the local authorities, the Wrigley representative in Romania, and held discussions with journalists from two TV channels. An excursion in the surrounding area was organised in order for the participants to be able to gather materials for their assigned tasks.

On the final day of the workshop, during a session, students worked in groups with the materials they gathered and produced an article, a video and a picture based on the themes they explored. The results were presented to the audience and were followed by a discussion.

CANADA

YRE Canada created an exhibit of this year’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place national competition winners as another way to engage the community. It is currently being displayed at different community events, such as festivals, in Toronto. The exhibition has so far been attended by 5,000 people.

The YRE Canada exhibit was on display at the Riverside Eats & Beats Festival in Toronto on 4 June, and included the participation of local restaurants, retailers, musicians and artists, and thousands of people in attendance. Canadian Young Reporters were able to speak with members of the public about the Young Reporters for the Environment programme and the Litter Less Campaign, and had a sign-up sheet for teachers and students who wanted to get involved. 

ISRAEL

Israeli students paid a visit to the biggest TV news outlet, Israeli Channel 2.

The students visited the main studio where the main news programme is being broadcast. Later, the students went to the control room, where they met a producer who explained the process of making the news. The producer spoke about how to make people interested in environmental issues, in a country where most people mostly care about security and politics.

After lunch, each group presented their work to other students. On the subject of marine litter, students were given another presentation by an EcoOcean expert, about the most recent research on marine plastics and micro plastics.

The day ended with the awards ceremony, where YRE Competition participants received their prizes and diplomas.

PORTUGAL

Portuguese Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) attended a six-day Mission at ‘Rock in Rio Lisboa 2016’ to investigate the sustainability measures and concerns of this music festival that involves 80.000 people per day on average.

The festival has, since 2013, been recognised as a sustainable event in accordance with ISO 20121. It aims to be a carbon neutral event and supports the social project ‘Amazonia Live’, also investigated by YRE students in Portugal.

Throughout the festival, two groups of twelve YRE students from different schools all over Portugal conducted their journalistic research work through interviews, surveys and photographs, and later produced a set of 46 reports which can be found here or on the Facebook page created for this activity.

The reports address themes related to mobility, waste, donation of materials, energy efficiency, smart cities, as well as relating to the organisation's vision, sustainability and its impact on the surrounding community.

A Litter Less Campaign event also took place during the festival and was organised by ABAE (FEE’s member in Portugal) with the participation of friends of YRE. Litter Less campaigners collected 15 1L bottles of cigarette butts, and took pictures with messages about sustainable behavior to highlight and promote their actions. Photos can be found on the campaign’s Facebook page.

During the mission the youth stayed at a YRE school, Colegio Valsassina,  located 500m from the festival area. Journalistic investigation took place between 16:00 and 21:00, and the reports were prepared between 9:00 and 14:00 at the the mission press centre in a designated area inside the school.

YRE in RIR is the fourth edition of the activity; the partnership with Rock in Rio has been major motivation for the YRE network and also an excellent reward for the most committed YRE students.

SLOVAKIA

Young Reporters participating in the Litter Less Campaign in Slovakia studied the impact of an official campaign of the Ministry of Environment, Vyčistime si Slovensko (Let´s Clean Slovakia), which aimed at the elimination of illegal dumping sites. The task was assigned at the introductory Litter Less seminar on 4 November, and the deadline was 15 December. So far, Young Reporters from 7 schools delivered reportages about successes or failures of the campaign.

In the process of investigation, YRs met with people in charge from municipalities, evaluated the results of the project and surveyed the citizens on their satisfaction. Students conducted research on the reasons for the creation of the dumping site, and what can be done so that it is not re-created in the future.

Thanks to the provided methodology, Young Reporters managed to deliver good articles illustrated by pictures "before" (with litter) and "after" (illegal dumping site cleaned). They gained useful skills on journalistic writing (for the reporters from new schools it was the first experience of this kind), and got acquainted with local waste problems. In this way, they are ready to start working on and improving their entries for the YRE competition.

ISRAEL

5 students from Gedera were able to join a real time marine research on a research vessel and document it for the YRE LL program! The student sailed on the vessel with a professor and 3 PHD student and were exposed to a real environmental marine work. They have filmed, took pictures and interview all participates, including the vessel captain. We can not wait for their journalistic work to submit.   

ROMANIA

YRE atthe National College “Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi” from Radauti, Romania

On October 2015, The National College “Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi” from Radauti, Romania, organized a seminar in which they disseminated the YREProgramme and the Litter Less Campaign in their community, launching the new edition for this school year. At this meeting, over 100 participants were present: pupils, teachers and parents. Important issues of this seminar were transmitted at the local TV station. Teachers and pupils presented their projects that were rewarded in 2015. 

Pupils participated in every Litter Less campaign edition and obtained multiple awards every year.

Also, for the year 2016, they proposed to combine the programmes and projects that they are running, so that the Litter Less Campaign might obtain even a better success. They wish to collaborate with another high school from another participating country.

Pupils made posters that were displayed in the school's hall and in the meeting room, so their colleagues might become interestedin environmental problems. Guests received fliers with information about the YRE Programme and the Litter Less Campaign. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC8WAjVIo54&feature=youtu.be

KAZAKHSTAN

What are the rules on writing a good article? How do you choose a hot topic to report on? Journalist Maxim Baluev of local newspaper Prestige answered these and many other questions on 21st December as part of a masterclass on the ‘Secrets of Successful Interviewing’. The class was organized for students at L.N. Tolstoy Secondary School №4 in the town of Stepnogorsk participating in the YRE programme and Litter Less Campaign.

At the invitation of the project’s school coordinators, Maxim Baluev led an interesting literacy project on journalism for the participants. The masterclass was not restricted to theory. Maxim also gave the event participants the opportunity to act as real journalists, having come up with a list of practical tasks (training). In these tasks the ‘young reporters’ composed intriguing headlines and lead paragraphs, annotated speeches and presented dramatization.

The open mike session, during which the participants were able to ask the journalist questions related to their own work, was particularly popular. From the reaction in the auditorium it was clear that the journalistic profession raises many questions and the participants were curious to find out more about those working in the industry.

 Author: Aipkhan Nurlanov, L.N. Tolstoy Secondary School №4, Stepnogorsk

PORTUGAL

The school Escols Secundária Fernando Caldeira a post on it's blog in which they describe their experience in the workshop:

http://ecofcaldeira.blogspot.pt/2016/01/litter-less-campaign-2016.html

The school Escola Secundária de Vila Real de Santo António created this news in its website regarding the participation of the school in the Litter Less Campaign and workshop:

http://www.aevrsa.com/index.php?pag=noticias&noticias=Campanha%20Litter%20Less%202016

FRANCE

We organised teacher training attended by 21 teachers and 9 students on the 5th of November. 

During the first part of the training, we presented what is expected from the programme and how to implement different actions in schools and classes in particular, as part of the curriculum. Furthermore, various reportages from the last year of the campaign were analysed in order to give a better idea to the attendees about the project, its results and impact.

The second part was dedicated to the journalistic approach of the campaign. Journalist Jessica Jeffries Britten, who specialises in Youth, shared her experience and delivered tips on how to deliver good reportage. 

GERMANY

Students from the Dathe-School in Berlin-Friedrichshain participated in a YRE-Photo-Workshop with our professional photograper Sandra Wildemann. They learned how to take a good picture for the Litter Less Campaign. The results will be soon available soon on our website.

CANADA

Our special guests for our winners’ workshop in May are Alex and Tyler Mifflin—the award-winning hosts and creators of the acclaimed documentary eco-adventure television series The Water Brothers.  Over the past six years, Alex and Tyler have travelled around the globe from the highest peak in Africa to the world’s mightiest rivers, deserts, and to the bottom of the ocean, exploring some of the most important water stories of our time.  Commissioned by TV Ontario (TVO), the series is shown in over 40 countries, including the United States where it is available in 50 million homes on Participant Media’s PIVOT TV.  Additionally, they are winners of the BBC Earth Best Newcomers award at the UK’s Wildscreen festival, known as the “Green Oscars”

Alex and Tyler are huge supporters of the YRE Canada program and spoke at last year's winners workshop. This upcoming workshop, they will be hosting a special session where students can learn more about documentary filmmaking, including getting some hands-on experience. We’re excited to have them on-board!