Getting the Facts Straight, Planning Ahead—St. Joseph’s High School, Wadala


23rd September 2011 


The eco-leaders of St. Joseph’s Wadala have completed their waste audit! Our second session at this school began with the students presenting the findings of their waste audit, which was conducted over 4 days in the month of September.

The students concluded that the average waste per month, from the entire school, was 286 kg. They identified food waste as the biggest problem. This was followed by paper waste and plastic waste. Further, the audit indicated that a system for segregation of waste needs to be set up and maintained.

The students also interviewed their Principal Fr. Bernard regarding the waste policies of the school, and made a video recording of the interview. The Principal stated that while the school does not have an environmental policy yet, the management and students will work together to draft an Environmental Vision Statement for the school. The students also asked the Principal whether the school’s environmental initiatives can be extended to impact the neighbourhood as well. To this, he replied that programmes such as ‘Green Ganesh’ were the first step in this direction.

The procedure followed during the audit was explained by the eco-club teacher Ms. Padmini. She stated that the teachers held a special staff meeting before the audit began, and assigned each section of the school to a particular teacher and student leader for supervision. This way, the entire school was involved in the audit.

After the presentation, the GreenLine team discussed with the students the ways in which to set up a Waste Management System in the school. The discussion emphasized that when students are involved in waste management, the actual quantity of waste reduces. With this in mind, the eco-leaders of St. Joseph’s Wadala are now starting work on setting up a comprehensive waste management system in their school. And if the way they did their waste audit is anything to go by, the results are sure to be impressive!

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