Economic sustainability was celebrated as three Phoenix schools achieved top prizes in the Fibre Circle Back2School competition. The competition, which ran from January to March, encouraged schools enrolled in Fibre Circle’s ‘Zithande Mzansi Programme’ to collect and recycle the previous year’s notebooks and textbooks rather than disposing of them as waste.
Representing Phoenix, Palmview Primary School claimed the top prize by collecting 2,389kg and winning R30,000 in funding for their school. Olympia Primary School finished as runners-up and received R20,000 for their collection of 2,202kg of paper waste. Olympia also won the ‘Greenest School Award’ for their overall collection for the year. Third place was awarded to Northview Primary with a collection of 734kg.
Fibre Circle CEO, Edith Leeuta, shared: “We are extremely proud of every school’s effort in the competition. It has been inspiring to witness the learners, and collection partners play their part toward a better South Africa. Their commitment is evidence of the powerful role young people can play toward a more sustainable future.”
In total, 41 schools and a total of 34,635 students participated in the competition. Each school was tasked with establishing designated collection points for learners to deposit any used books, notes, and other paper materials. Thereafter, schools were assigned to a collection partner to assist with weighing the total paper collected. Given the varying school sizes, Fibre Circle calculated collection rates per learner.
In addition to the top three prizes awarded, Fibre Circle recognised ‘Phoenix for the Planet’, a small business focused on recycling within its community, with the Top Collector Award. Notably, ‘Phoenix for the Planet’ was the collection partner for the top three performing schools.
Throughout the school year, learners use substantial amounts of paper, much of which is incorrectly disposed of and ultimately ends up in landfills. The Back2School competition served as Fibre Circle’s first step toward addressing this growing challenge.
Leeuta added: “Waste reduction is a vital step toward protecting our environment and supporting the circular economy, and instilling this culture from a young age is paramount to meaningful change.”
