Go Green with BIS Houston

The past few weeks at BIS Houston, UNICEF Club has been implementing a new initiative at school to improve our sustainability as a community. They have partnered with the Eco Warriors organization to spearhead a push towards more recycling by students using the blue bins scattered around campus. 

UNICEF Club was inspired to do this by the UNICEF Global Challenge which is a challenge aimed at all Nord Anglia students to implement sustainable initiatives in their schools. Since UNICEF Club’s Global Goal of the month this past month was Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, it felt fitting to organize an initiative related to that issue. We recognized that our current production and consumption methods are unsustainable and decided to work to change that, starting with better recycling habits.

Not only is UNICEF Club working to make the recycling bins at school more functional, but they have also put in place additional bins in the cafeteria that are specifically for empty single use plastic bottles to be recycled. To increase involvement, the club plans to turn recycling using these bins into a competition among the four Houses at BIS Houston and hopefully that will encourage people to be more aware about their habits and recycle as much as they can. Eventually, the goal would be not to become sustainable enough as a school where we don’t use any single use plastics, but for now we will focus on recycling the ones we do use.

As a way to inform the student body about the new sustainable efforts, UNICEF composed a series of assemblies for all members of the school. This was unique as for the first time the assemblies were completely student-run, from inception to fruition. Those involved had to consider how best to share the information with the rest of the school so that people are engaged and listening. They also had to decide what information to convey, ultimately focusing on why Goal 12 is important, what exactly can be recycled, and UNICEF Club’s sustainability goals for this year.

Sana M. comments on her experience working on the assemblies: “It’s been great being able to be proactive as a leader within the UNICEF club and taking initiative for change at our school. Witnessing other students and staff taking on board our rules for recycling has been amazing and I can’t wait to see how this campaign expands in the future.”

Since launching this new project, it has been great to see the response of the students and how they are trying to be more sustainable. The new recycling bins have been well utilized and if students are ever confused about whether something can be recycled or not, they will ask whatever Eco Warrior or UNICEF Club member is closest. UNICEF Club at BIS Houston is proud of their impact on their school through their recycling initiative and we are all looking forward to seeing what else they can accomplish this year when it comes to responsible resource consumption.