LEADNG environmental change among schools, Queen’s College, with support from Recover Guyana, ExxonMobil Guyana, and the Ministry of Education, on Tuesday launched its Cycle Smart Project.
The Queen’s College Cycle-Smart Project- Waste, Recycle, Renew- was this year’s winning initiative at Recover Guyana’s SHOUT National Secondary School Environmental Speech Competition (SHOUT 3.0). It was designed by Queen’s College student, Anushka Singh.
While many will see it as a simple installation of bins in the school’s compound, the ground-breaking project signifies and represents much more; it is an investment in the school’s future, environmentally, socially, and academically.
Noting that the management of waste and its impact on our environment is indeed a nationwide problem, Singh said she believes that its the responsibility of her school to lead by example.
Singh emphasised that instead of being just another school plagued by diseases associated with improper waste disposal, the focus is on leading change and proving that change is possible.
She credited the SHOUT competition for the breakthrough in developing a functional project that combats the issue of waste management and seeing the project come to life.
“I’m proud to say that as the winner, I was able to implement my project, the sustainable change to Queen’s College. Now, simply saying waste is harmful to the environment does not suffice. People don’t understand that. So naturally, I had to conduct extensive research to actually explain and understand myself how this waste is even harmful. So, when you simply say, throw this in the garbage, throw this in the bin, the regular bins, most of this waste ultimately ends up in a landfill,” Singh said.
While informing attendees at the project unveiling about the negative effects of improper waste disposal and management, she noted that she designed a project that not only reduces the waste around us but intervenes where it goes and what it becomes.
The Cycle-Smart Project, she explained, is built on a simple, yet powerful idea that if students are given the opportunity to separate waste at the point of disposal, what can be recycled will be recycled.
According to the teenager, her fellow students have started utilising a four-bin system: Red for general waste, blue bins for paper waste, yellow for metal, and green for plastic waste. These will be placed at several points around the school for students to use.
Additionally, she stated that a composting bin will also be placed in the school’s agricultural plot, and will be used for organic compostable waste.
Cevon’s Waste Management will collect the general waste and all plastic and metal free of charge until July 26, 2026, after which the arrangement will be reassessed.
“As they continue to pick up the waste from today, they will have to assess our waste management patterns, how frequently they should collect the waste, and then time will be set. Meanwhile, all paper and cardboard will be collected free of cost from Dr. Surendra Persaud. You may also recall that he is the first SHOUT Champion’s father, and he runs his own recycling plant, and has graciously committed to supporting this initiative,” Singh said.
The school’s Environmental Club, Student Council, and Prefect Body are also committed to working with Singh as a school to ensure that this initiative is kept up by leading awareness campaigns, monitoring waste separation, collecting data, and advising students on proper waste disposal mechanisms.
Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Priya Manickchand, in her address, called on students to lead a National Environmental Sustainable Programme that sees them influencing schools nationwide.
“Our commitment is that we will help you, and I hope we get the partnership of SHOUT and Exxon, to build that into a sustainable teen network through the Ministry of Local Government, led by Anushka and persons like her of her age and of her mindset that will take this nationally,” the minister said.
