A Brief reflection of a long service term

Today marked the end of our first service term in DP 1. I had been part of Recycling and Sustainability group since I joined this school, i.e., grade 9 when we had Johail and Toby to accompany us and narrate their fun DP tales to us simpleton MYPs.

I would say this term was relatively the most productive one in terms of our output, compared to the ones from previous years. We did a lot of things, which were quantifiable and were impactful in creating changes around in our school.

To begin with, we got our biogas plant up and running. It was a bit of a pain in the ___ NECK (Ha! im an innocent guy) to get the system to actually start producing methane gas, since it involved us dumping cow dung into it which I personally found disgusting. Another part of our action plan, which we ticked off this semester, involved us

Fig – Collecting Recycled Paper in groups (Credits Mr. Lockwood)

introducing the food waste bucket at the canteen. The idea was to measure the food waste our school generated, hence quantifying our waste generated into data which we can interpret and consequently act on if we need to in the future. Although my other service members worked diligently on the green flag application this term, I won’t take credits for it since I wasn’t involved much into it. However, I would credit myself for waste paper and cardboard collection we did this term around school. Thanks to the waste collection, we were able to make money by selling the recyclable waste and reach the 80k Rupees milestone in funds for this service.

Fig – Recycling at a Glimpse (Credits Mr. Lockwood)

I personally enjoyed being in the service this year, since we were often rewarded with a popcorn treat for all the hard work we did.

Personally, throughout the length of this service, I matured as a leader and simultaneously also developed an appreciation of how important it is to recycle things back into the ecosystem. Through the means of biogas, I learnt how even waste can reap us beneficial products if used in a correct manner. This also connects to life in general, since things we often deem as miniscule and unimportant turn out to be of much more importance.

I look forward to re-joining the recycling service in the next term, and help in making our school as sustainable as possible.