Museum reaches out with recycling exhibition |15 June 2013

When you reach the front of the vehicle, the garbage has turned into beautiful, stylish, attractive and maybe expensive products which include clothes, bags, art objects or other decorative items!

Or, who would welcome the idea of, as well-known Seychellois poet Ras Pyek puts it, going through “depouy, kosonnyen, lapianter, rebi”, collecting the garbage and instead of throwing away the smelly stuff, work your hands on them to in the end obtain valuable items? This would surely be a more responsible practice, instead of, as we go on with our lavish lifestyle, continuing to throw away valuable items and in the process help fill up the Providence dumping site.

The department of environment as well as local conservation non-governmental organisations have been advocating the idea for quite a long time now through the 3 ‘R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) campaign. But how many of us have been educated by the message?

As part of its effort to reach out to the public, especially to children, the Natural History Museum is echoing the message through an exhibition promoting innovative waste management, and which was officially opened last Friday by the Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange, in the presence of invitees who included tourism and culture staff, representatives of the Small Enterprise Promotion Agency (Senpa), teachers, school children and the event’s sponsors.

The exhibition called ‘EKO-Ver’ is the result of a recycling competition organised by the museum with the collaboration of local garment maker ‘Kaju Seychelles’, which was launched earlier this year with the theme ‘Living it green, for an island grin’.

In a short address, culture principal secretary Benjamine Rose rightfully told guests present that Seychelles produces too much waste and that it is time to take measures to dispose of litter in a more responsible manner.

“Seychelles is an eco-friendly destination. We have to keep on creating awareness on the issues of preservation and the danger facing our world while being eco-friendly. We have to make Seychelles greener, more beautiful and a healthier place to live in if we want to give the next generation the opportunity to appreciate our beautiful country,” she said.

She also reminded that preservation and conservation is everybody’s business and called upon the public to support the initiative of the Natural History Museum and to spread the message of environment protection in order to create a more beautiful and eco-friendly Seychelles.

During the ceremony, the competition’s winners also received prizes sponsored by Kaju Seychelles, Children’s Fund, S4S, Pas Partou Photography, Le Méridien Barbarons, Mason’s Travels, Seychelles Trading Company, Water Treatment Solutions, Soleil Beauty Parlour, Banyan Tree, Star Seychelles, Coco Magazine, AGM Studio, Armina Architecture, K N G supplies and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

The first prize in the P1 to P6 category went to Anse Royale primary school while the second prize was won by the Takamaka creche. The third position was shared by Anisha Balette and Isabelle Vinda.

In the S1 to S5 category, Sylvie Robert won the first and third prizes, while Betty Confiance collected the second prize.

Dylis Popounneau stole the show in the post secondary category as she took all the three prizes. Carol Athanasius also went home with three prizes, winning the special prize as well as first prize in the professional category and second prize in photography. The second and first places in those two categories went respectively to Lindy Legras and Anabelle Denis.

The poetry competition for S1 to S5 was won by Shaquil Cushion, with Dominic Ina as runner-up and Jill Florentine in third place. Lina Denis was the winner in the post secondary category.

The public is being invited to visit the exhibition which will remain open until the end of July and to go through the waste transformation process in the STAR dumping truck. Please do not miss the opportunity, as when you reach the front and discover the end result, the exhilarating feeling will just put an automatic grin on your face.

After the visit, you will surely respond more positively to the question Ras Pyek asked last Friday: “Olye zet lo konblaz, akoz nou pa fer resiklaz?”

The accompanying photos show guest and students admiring the displays in the exhibition.

M. S.