Rainbow Schools celebrate World Environment Day by beating plastic pollution

Rainbow District School Board invites students and staff to celebrate World Environment Day on June 5, 2018. The theme for this year’s event is Beat Plastic Pollution.

Schools are challenged to avoid the use of plastic materials for the day including in lunches and all classroom activities.

This Go Green initiative is part of the Environmental Committee’s ongoing efforts to build an understanding about global plastic pollution.

“Plastic pollution is a defining environmental challenge for our time,” says Director of Education Norm Blaseg. “To help combat this, it is important be aware of the way we produce, use and manage plastic masterials.”

He adds: “Our participation in World Environment Day is a small gesture to encourage school communities to continue to adopt sustainable practices, both inside and outside of the classroom.”

In the next 10 to 15 years, global plastic production is projected to nearly double. Each year, over 500 billion plastic bags are used and some 13 million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean.

There are ways in which we can reduce the use of plastics to benefit the environment such as limiting or reducing single-use containers, phasing out microplastics, and addressing the economic reliance of plastic materials at the production level.

Rainbow District School Board’s Environmental Committee has issued monthly challenges to staff and students throughout the school year.

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Media Contact:

Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor,
Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning,
Rainbow District School Board, 705-674-3171, ext. 7217.