Photos

Dumping zones – an eye sore

submitted by St Margaret College Secondary School Verdala Cospicua : Ismael Magro  for 15-18
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): newspaper,school magazine,other,School Exhibition
filed under Photos Reporting photo

No one can miss the heavy waste dump found in the area between Bulebel industrial area and bypass road when heading towards Zejtun. This area continuously suffers from contaminated heavy dump waste including television sets, broken glass, plastic and paper waste plus all sorts of other waste. Dumping waste is illegal not to mention an eye sore to the countryside. Moreover, it is detrimental to nearby fields, water resources and human health. The chemicals and non-biodegradable materials in the waste can affect the physical environment and the waterways by contaminating groundwater and soil. In this area, the illegal dumping of waste has become a huge environmental problem over the past years. Zejtun Local Council and the Malta Industrial Parks were contacted to clean up this illegal dump waste but this area does not fall under their responsibility. Therefore, we recall for an immediate clean up action by the responsible agency.



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Less litter the better

submitted by St. Benedict Middle School : Katia Bugeja  for 11-14
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): website
filed under Photos Reporting photo

You can’t Litter negativity Everywhere and then wonder Why you’ve got a trashy life!!



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Less litter the better

submitted by St. Benedict Middle School : Katia Bugeja  for 11-14
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): website
filed under Photos Reporting photo

Put waste In the right Place.



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Plastic Sun

submitted by G.F.Abela Junior College Malta Msida : Gabrielle Zarb  for 15-18
campaign: Litter Less Campaign Entry
dissemination(s): Instagram, other, school notice board and school online newsletter (still to upload), school media
filed under Campaigning photo Photos
awarded: 1st place Litter less Campaign

No longer shall we be looking up and getting a glance of our sun …but mountains of plastic. In this photo, the message I’m trying to convey is, the fact that if we keep on living by our selfish ways, sooner or later we won’t be able to look around us and appreciate our beautiful and natural surroundings. Instead we will be living in our own plastic waste. This degrading plastic fragment was found on a local beach one of the millions which litters our beaches … homes to marine organisms.



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Capturing but not living the moment

submitted by Gozo College Middle School : Maia Camilleri  for 11-14
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): newspaper,school magazine,website,school media,other,Noticeboard, EkoSkola blog
filed under Photos Reporting photo

A lot of people waste magical moments by taking photos which they can then post on the media to say ‘I was there’. Just because we can capture the moment doesn’t mean that it is the best thing to do. The opportunity to stop and appreciate the moment is frequently missed. Think about the meaning of the moment. Value it with the heart and the eyes, and not through a lens. Don’t let capturing the moment stop you from living it!



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Coolest snowman in town

submitted by Gozo College Middle School : Maia Camilleri  for 11-14
campaign: Litter Less Campaign Entry
dissemination(s): school magazine,website,school media,other,EkoSkola Noticeboard, EkoSkola blog
filed under Photos Reporting photo

In December 2017 the Villa Rundle Gardens in Victoria were transformed into a winter wonderland to create a Christmas spirit. This was done with the help of the residents of Santa Marta Day centre and Dar Padova, the primary schools in Gozo and the Ministry for Gozo. Most of the decorations were created using recycled materials such as this happy snowman which was made out of used tyres.



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A Littered Picnic

submitted by Zejtun St Thomas More Secondary School : Yasmin Borg, Anis Riahi, Selma Zinou  for 11-14
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): school magazine,website,other,School monitor in the reception area
filed under Photos Reporting photo

Enjoying a picnic in a public park and yet surrounded by litter. Is it so difficult to enjoy a picnic in the open air? Dumping litter onto the ground not only is an eyesore but also threatens wildlife. Littering also contributes to water pollution and costs the country money. Litter can also block drain pipes leading to more flooding. Furthermore, litter is also unhygienic and can lead to illness. The presence of litter indicates lack of respect for the other people living in the community. Why should we pay taxes to employ workers to clean our litter when we can all do our mite to deposit our litter in provided bins or take it home with us? Does it have to cost us so much effort and money to keep our country clean?



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Treasures of the Sea or Destroyers of the Sea?

submitted by Zejtun St Thomas More Secondary School : Krista Gatt  for 11-14
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): school magazine,website,other,School monitor in the reception area
filed under Photos Reporting photo

As time goes by, harbours require maintenance. One such activity involves the dredging of the seabed (the removal of unwanted sediment). Unfortunately, a large percentage of the seabed present within commercial harbours ends up accumulating various items. Most of these include material derived from the loading and unloading of cargo such as steel, rubber pipes and lost cargo. Tyres, which are usually used as fenders, also from time to time end up on the seabed. Sadly, not only visible materials are dredged. The upper layer of the seabed is also contaminated with toxic substances from paint, oil and other chemicals. The attached photo shows materials mentioned above, which were dredged from the Grand Harbour of Valletta in October 2017. In this particular operation, the total amount of steel collected reached 1.8 tons!



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One man’s waste… another man’s treasure

submitted by St. Thomas More Secondary School Zejtun : Marija Camilleri  for 11-14
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): other, School monitor in the reception area, school magazine, website
filed under Photos Reporting photo
awarded: 1st place Litter less Campaign

Modern societies have adopted a throw-away culture. In Europe, in 2015, each person has generated an average of 477kg of municipal waste. In Malta alone, each person generates more than 600kg of waste yearly. Environmental awareness has helped for disposing of our waste wisely by reusing and recycling paper, metal, plastic and glass. However, we are still wasting resources as we are throwing away organic matter generated in our households through food scraps, vegetable waste, tea bags, dead leaves and twigs. Nature shows us clearly that one man’s waste can be another’s treasure. Instead of filling our landfills with organic waste, we can give nature the opportunity to do its job and break it down into compost. Compost can then be used to enrich soil with the nutrients it needs.



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Gate way to heaven, but is it really heaven?

submitted by St. Thomas More Secondary School Zejtun : Shaznay Borg  for 11-14
campaign: YRE Entry
dissemination(s): school magazine,website,other,School reception monitor
filed under Photos Reporting photo

This photo portrays two different scenarios. There is a path leading to the sea but the path is littered with garbage. There is a very high probability that the garbage will end up in the sea. Consequently fish as well as other organisms may ingest the garbage. A number of harmful substances consumed by the said organisms may find their way up the food chain in a process known as bioaccumulation. Thus this brings up another question: “What are we really selling, buying and eating?” The photo only shows a fraction of marine litter but research suggests that about 12.7 million tonnes of plastic have accumulated in the world’s oceans as stated by an article in 2010. This is quite alarming considering that only 1% of the Earth’s water is suitable for drinking.



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