First and Second Graders Go Green and Learn About Sustainable Materials

“Dumb but fun!” was one of the answers when the first and second graders were asked how they felt learning about sustainability. What truly amazed us were how much the students knew about the environment and it got us thinking about the time we were in grade school and how little we were taught.

Well it’s obvious that sustainability was not part of the curriculum in the past, but the students in Kerava at Kilta school are already learning more about the environment than we ever did. For the whole week the students had been studying different themes surrounding environmentally friendly practices and we had a chance to be a part of the education.

The teachers had an idea to let the students create their own sustainable designs on something truly sustainable, bags made with PAPTIC® Tringa. With help from Muovipussiton Kerava (Plastic bag free Kerava) and Mari Granström we were able to donate the bags for the school project.

As we entered the class room the kids were hard at work drawing different kinds of recycling bins, sustainable forms of transportation and a variety of different environmentally friendly ideas. One design had a message that truly resonated with us, it said “Take me with you, so you don’t have to take a new plastic bag.”

Before presenting their designs, the whole class were asked how they felt about the week and the task. Most of the students had a positive experience and someone even said that “the best part of the week was to draw on the bags.”

The plastic free Kerava initiative is taking strides forward and the city is on its way of becoming the first plastic free city in Europe. Other cities can follow in its footsteps and make a change for the better. Paptic is also part of the initiative as every household will receive a bag made with Paptic material and hopefully reduce their plastic footprint.