Many students living in the Sundarbans area, India, were not aware of the issues that mismanaged plastic waste has on the environment, and the opportunities for growth and learning around this topic. Changemakers, a youth-led co-curricular programme, aims to fill in this gap by educating school-going children on actions against plastic waste. Run by our partner Soceo gGmbH, the educational initiative covers the basics of plastic, its waste, and what we can do with it.

In one year, more than 45,000 students across Kolkata and the Sundarbans region engaged in the programme. By the end of the programme, 95% of the school kids stopped throwing trash on the streets, and 89% of them understand what household waste segregation is.

These same students will one day become decision-makers. In providing them with knowledge and tools to sustainably manage plastic waste today, we hope to empower students to directly engage with the issues of unmanaged plastic waste now and in the future.