Pupils at Lotus Secondary School and Hillwood Primary School were recently taught about the harmful dumping of used vehicle oil and the importance of disposing of oil correctly, when they were visited by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) and The ROSE Foundation (Recycling Oil Saves the Environment).
The ROSE Foundation is a national non-profit organisation established to promote and encourage the environmentally responsible management of used oils and related waste in South Africa.
In September, WESSA launched a three-year project which includes distributing educational resource materials to 60 schools in the province, covering the theme of used oil disposal.
A workshop was held at Helderberg Nature Reserve to support learning about this issue by in-
troducing teachers to the educational resources and equipping them with lesson plans for Grades 4 to 9.
Participating schools have also introduced a poster competition that focuses on responsible used oil disposal, with evaluation criteria linked to the school curriculum. Pupils stand the chance of winning an educational trip to a local used oil recycling facility.
Schools and teachers interested in the programme can contact WESSA on lorraine@wessa.co.za for more information.
