Durban - St Mary’s DSG Kloof’s Elizabeth Anderson emerged as the only victor from KwaZulu-Natal at a recent Royal Society of South Africa School Science Essay Competition.
Elizabeth, 17, said waste management was her inspiration for the essay.
“Having noticed the rising popularity in thrifting ‒ which refers to using second-hand materials in an economical way like recycling and upcycling ‒ I thought it would be interesting to investigate upcycling and the broader area of waste management.”
She said she was surprised when she learnt she had won her category because she was not sure how she’d fare in a national competition.
Elizabeth’s essay was entered in the category with the subject: “How would you advise your local authority to develop better sustainable waste management? Are recycling, upcycling, and developing the circular economy the best approaches?”
She said waste management was at a critical juncture worldwide and it was incumbent on the current generation to take it seriously. She said there were so many opportunities for local government to work hand-in-hand with business and schools in areas such as:
- Making composting and organic waste treatment the cheaper option versus landfilling and dumping.
- Improving the efficiency of treatment facilities.
- Providing numerous stations of three distinctively coloured disposal bins.
- Enforcing the use of reusable grocery bags at all shops.
“The value of this competition is that it encourages pupils to think critically about issues outside of the curriculum.
“It educates them to environmental problems and alerts them to issues in science.
“It encourages them to conduct research and engage in the process of scientific writing,” said St Mary’s LIfe Sciences subject head Alison Page.
She added her thoughts on the illiteracy crisis and, saying pupils needed to be encouraged to read.
She said competitions were important to address the illiteracy issue of South Africa, but only if all schools were able to participate.
She said since the competition only reached a portion of schools in the country, the majority were not able to participate and show their research and reading abilities.
The Royal Society of South Africa is the country’s premier multi-disciplinary scientific organisation.
For a century, it has played a leading role in being the public face of South African science, and aimed to foster and advance pure and applied science.
The Independent on Saturday