They fought for the victory in the All-Ukrainian project "Ecopatrol - best practices", uniting more than ten thousand participants in environmental activities. School teams from twelve oblasts studied remotely, did homework, and conducted research on responsible family consumption and local recycling centers. "Ecopatrol - best practices" is a long-term all-Ukrainian educational program for socially responsible student youth, which aims to introduce a system of waste sorting in general secondary education and sustainable community development. 

Pupils from thirty quarantine schools attended online training, formed teams, conducted dozens of outreach activities, presented their experience and experience in implementing environmental initiatives during the project and shared their plans for the future. All teams will receive diplomas and specially designed materials for long-term effective activities in their school and community: uniforms for Ecopatrols, manuals, information materials, posters, stickers, bracelets. The most active schools will be given sets of tanks for sorting secondary raw materials on each floor of the school.

The winners and owners of tanks for sorting were: 

• Zinkiv specialized school of I-III degrees №1 Zinkiv district council of Poltava region;
• KZ "Center for Extracurricular Education" Melitopol City Council of Zaporozhye region;
• Shostka Lyceum of Sumy region.

Garbage is a resource! The winners plan the following activities for the proceeds from the sale of secondary raw materials: holding a competition for the development of designer containers for waste, which will be installed on the territory of the center of extracurricular education and in parks and squares of their city; to buy a basis for weaving of a winter camouflage grid for fighters of anti-terrorist operation / OOS.

The project is organized by the International Youth Movement "School Recycling World" together with the All-Ukrainian Youth Movement "Let's do it, Ukraine" with the assistance of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the National Ecological and Naturalistic Center, financial support of PepsiCo Foundation and PepsiCo Ukraine general partner. Fifty volunteers from different parts of the country were involved in the organization.

 On a competitive basis, more than 300 school eco-patrols were selected for the project, who received expert mentorship and a free opportunity to participate in distance learning for a month to implement a sorting program at their school. Online trainings were conducted by experts in the field of ecology, proper waste management, environmental protection, project management and fundraising.

"Responsible consumption, environmental culture, sustainable community development - this is what brought together thousands of participants in the 2020 project in different parts of Ukraine. Special thanks to everyone who joined, and especially to the leaders and leaders of the Ecopatrol teams. Then our goal is to motivate the whole community to eco-habits, to live in the style of eco here and now ", - commented Julia Markhel, founder of the International Youth Movement "School Recycling World", President of the All-Ukrainian Movement "Let's do it Ukraine".

Within the project as well the Marathon of separate waste collection took place, where teams presented a sorting program, shot motivational videos. Waste was sorted into the following categories: waste paper, plastic, glass, batteries, organics, TetraPak. They handed over the accumulated for recycling, involving families, school and local communities.

"I continue to admire the hard work and rapid movement forward. Young activists set an example to follow, not looking for reasons during a pandemic, severe quarantine restrictions, local elections and vacations, but finding effective solutions for a conscious environmental life. This project was a great start for each of us. Now our task is to move further and further, to pass all our achievements to future generations. " - comments Ksenia Renchkovska, head of the International Youth Movement "School Recycling World" in Ukraine.

Created within the project The first online course on the introduction of waste sorting systems in educational institutions. The course combined theoretical and practical educational training: the basics of proper waste management, project management, an online tour of the sorting station, recycling plant and many useful things that can be used not only in school but also in everyday life. Also developed special information stickers, posters, calendar of eco-holidays. All this in free access can be found at: https://schoolrecyclingworld.org/online-learning/. 

After the end of the project, the participants are not going to stop at the achieved results. They plan to hold a number of other activities: information campaigns at school and social networks, video lectures, trainings, challenges, quests, contests, garbage sorting lessons, workshops on making second-hand items, environmental fairs, landscaping the schoolyard, cleaning, expanding contacts with media personalities to promote sustainable development, involve parents in projects. They plan to further improve the ecological culture of the community, to involve all participants in the educational process in socially significant and ecologically useful work, to expand the circle of project participants; enlist the support and assistance of local governments in solving environmental problems of the city; to develop the desire of student youth to become the initiator of environmental startups; reduce environmental pollution.

Let's form a habit of responsible consumption and a culture of proper waste management together!