Principal champions environmental stewardship at Excelsior High

WITH A student population of over 2,500, for Excelsior High School Principal Deanroy Bromfield, it is a priority that the large volume of waste produced by students and staff at the institution – particularly its plastic waste that can be recycled – is dealt with efficiently.

Speaking with The Gleaner on the sidelines of the institution’s observation of World Earth Day celebrated under the theme ‘Planet vs Plastics’, he expressed the importance of mankind being “better stewards of our environment”.

“From its founding, Excelsior has been a comprehensive school in the greatest sense of the word,” Bromfield said, continuing that “therefore our aim is to produce citizens who not only have good academic and cognitive and social grounding, but who are also good stewards of the environment”.

This, he said, was one of the most important practices that must be carried out as the institution endeavours to teach its students how to effectively protect and manage their environment. As such, each classroom has its own student warden who ensures that garbage is properly discarded.

The Government announced that effective June 1, a ban will be placed plastic lunch boxes and personal-care items containing microplastic beads. Bromfield told The Gleaner that Excelsior, through its canteen concessionaire Mother’s Enterprise Limited, had already started utilising paper-based lunch boxes for approximately three years now, ahead of talks about a ban on plastic containers.

PREPARED FOR BAN

Bromfield stated that when a ban on single-use plastic bags, straws and polystyrene took effect in 2019, the administration of the school had anticipated that a ban would be placed on plastic lunch boxes.

“We felt that as soon as we started to make moves towards that it would be easier for us to make the transition,” he said.

Bromfield also shared that the school was in the process of making another agreement with Recycling Partners of Jamaica to be provided with additional recycling bins.

“We’ve always been trying to make partnerships with recycling companies or entities because we’re a huge population ... and all of us are here every day so you know that that means we generate a whole heap of garbage and a whole heap of plastics ... so we want to step up and continue to improve our recycling practices,” he said.

Anthony McKenzie, director of the Environmental Conservation and Management Division in the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), claimed a 90 per cent success rate of the 2019 ban on single-use plastics, adding that a recent study of waste disposal sites across the country showed that single-use plastics amounted to 0.01 per cent of the waste materials found.

Additionally, McKenzie noted that the agency has been having consultations with various stakeholders and have already met with major importers of plastics and engaged in sensitisation engagements with them. He added that through engaging with fast-food companies, many are already on board with the use of biodegradable (plant-based or paper-based material) containers to serve food.

SERIOUS ROLE

For his part, Senator Matthew Samuda, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, stated that citizens have a serious role to play in the reduction of plastic pollution, which has been a major environmental challenge in Jamaica.

Samuda further expressed that Jamaica suffered from a cultural issue that exacerbates the collection of waste and that people needed to understand that their choice of how they discard waste affects all of us.

He also noted that one key area which needed more attention was ensuring that sufficient support was given to schools so that they are better able to engage with students about safeguarding the environment.

Samuda shared that if environmental advocacy started with the youth, there would be a better chance of ensuring that within the next 30 years, there would be a reduction in the challenges being faced now.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com