Say NO to Plastic! — Today we Dream

The effects of plastic on the environment are really quite devastating. While there are many steps to the banning of plastic bags based solely on their convenience, the damage to the environment needs to be controlled.

One of the biggest problems the environment faces is that once the plastic has been soiled, it ends up in the trash, which then ends up in the landfill or burned. Burning emits toxic gases that harm the atmosphere and increase the level of VOCs in the air, while landfills hold them indefinitely as part of the plastic waste problem throughout the globe. Either solution is very poor for the environment.

With this said, Japan is one of the world's foremost recyclers. In 2010, 77 percent of the country's plastic waste was recycled, and recent reports put the figure for total amount of wastage sent to landfills at a relatively low 16 percent. However, the level of packaging wastage throughout Japan is in complete contrast to the country's recycling efforts.

In efforts to move towards a better future for our students, Ohana International School decided to hold a “Zero Plastic Day” on 8th of June. Schools can generate enormous amounts of plastic waste, which is toxic to people and the environment, and never goes away. Our school took steps to initiate this a few days in advance. Most children and staff have found creative ways to avoid using foil, paper and especially plastic in their lunchboxes. This is how our special day went…

Flowers Class (Age:3.5-5) started the week by discussing the news story about the whale dying in Thailand after consuming 80 bags of plastic. The children shared their thoughts and discussed the importance of being aware of our environment. Throughout the week during snack and lunch time, children kept asking their teachers, what was and wasn’t plastic in their boxes. The discussions were open ended and brought about ideas for the future. The day before Zero Plastic Day, the children all went home with green face paint hearts on their cheeks, as a reminder to their parents and themselves of the special day. As the day arrived, these were their thoughts:

“We’ve been talking about all week and the day is finally here! NO PLASTIC DAY! We already know what plastic is and have been talking extensively about what we can and cannot bring all week. Today we talked about what we did to limit our plastic usage. Junto said he uses reusable plastic instead of single use plastic. He also uses burnable material instead. Looking around the room during snack time and lunch time we noticed that there were no ziplock bags!. We ended up with more of a healthier diet too! Our friends brought bananas, apples, grapes, sandwiches in reusable containers and even onigiri in reusable containers. We had no individually packed rice crackers in plastic, no individually packed cream cheese and sticks and sandwich bags. Dev mentioned, “Now I start to not use plastic anymore because I saw a video about a whale that died on my mom’s laptop.” The teachers asked us, “What we can do when we go shopping?” Some of our answers were, “We can buy reusable plastic”, “We can wash the plastic and reuse it.” and “We can use paper bags.” Hisami showed us a canvas bag that she has that she uses to go shopping with. Kai mentioned that if we buy one or two items we can just carrythem instead of having a bag. In the classroom, we used a paper bag for all our burnable trash we had throughout the day. It was a success for our first NO PLASTIC DAY and we’re thinking of doing it every Friday from next year!”

Petals Class (Age: 3-4) started the week off with a dramatic play acted out by the teachers. The teachers acted out a story of a group of sea creatures who were out at sea and hungry. They found food and ate it. Later on, they realized that their tummies were upset. And when they went to see the doctor, he told them that they have been eating a lot of plastic. The sea creatures worry, as it has become hard for them to find good food to eat. This opened a discussion with the children about how they could help the sea creatures. As the day arrived these were their thoughts:

“We did lots of activities for this event today. We started by playing a fun recycling board game called ‘What’s Rubbish’. In this game, the player moves around the board and collects rubbish. We even did ‘We love our planet earth’ yoga. The emphasis was on opening the physical area around the heart. We then visualized a green light and then allowed it to settle deep into the heart space. We then opened our hands to spread love and repeated – “My heart to your heart, spread the love, love earth”. We also recycled the cardboard box from yesterday, in which we got our Ohana mugs. How many ways can we play with a cardboard box? The answer is ENDLESS.”

Bud’s Class (Age: 1.5-3) are the youngest in our school. There is so much that they understand and comprehend, yet at times some topics can be hard to comprehend and explain In class we played with animals and talked about “ouchies” our animal friends can get. We also focused on sorting our garbage and asking children to put it into the correct recycling bins. Most of the effort was put in by the parents and teachers together, to create a zero-plastic environment for them, via email. As the day arrived, parents made sure no plastic was brought into class, and teachers facilitated this with paper bags for bins and newspaper origami baskets for the snack and lunch table bins. As teachers, we also had to rethink our snack and lunch choices. Many of us had self-realizations that we will continue for the future; from bringing in refillable water bottles to reusable coffee tumblers. Sometimes we forget that we can get stuck in our ways for the convenience it gives us but making a small alteration can have a HUGE impact on the Earth.

There are always alternatives to plastic bags and the search for more alternatives continues. Paper bags are a possible option, but they also take their toll on the environment. The use of trees to increase the production of paper products combined with the increased energy that is required to make paper bags will also have a negative environmental effect.

Reusable plastic bags, bottles and cutlery are being introduced to regions that want to outlaw plastic altogether. These are stronger and more durable and can be used for three to five trips to the stores or biodegradable ones. Of course, the reusable cloth bag is fast becoming a favorite among environmental supporters. While thus far no item is without its issues, these are some steps that we can take to help protect environmental concerns..........."WE TOO CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE".