A Whole-School Journey Towards Plastic-Free Living
The “Schools for Change – Agios Athanasios: Leading the Plastic-Free Movement” is part of the Keep our Sand and Sea Plastic Free, Destination Zero Waste in Cyprus and Greece project, an initiative by TUI Care Foundation and CSTI, funded by Island Oil Holdings and supported by the Cyprus Environment Foundation.
Overview
Agios Athanasios A’ Primary School has taken a comprehensive and sustained approach to reducing single-use plastics and embedding environmental awareness into everyday school life.
Through a combination of education, infrastructure improvements, and hands-on student engagement, the school has developed a strong whole-school model for environmental action. Its journey reflects a commitment not only to learning about plastic pollution, but to actively changing the behaviours that contribute to it.
Building Environmental Awareness
The foundation of the school’s engagement began with structured educational activities focused on plastic pollution, waste generation, and marine ecosystem protection.
Students explored:
- The impact of single-use plastics on oceans and coastal environments
- The lifecycle of plastic and its long-term environmental consequences
- Practical alternatives to disposable materials in daily life
These sessions helped students understand that environmental challenges are not distant problems but directly connected to everyday habits and choices.
Turning Awareness into Action
Following the educational phase, the school community implemented a series of practical interventions designed to contribute to experiential learning, behaviour shift, and reduction of single-use plastics within the school environment.
Key actions included:
- Waste audits to identify key sources of litter and explore sustainable alternatives
- Beach clean-up activities connecting students with local coastal environments
- Upcycling workshops transforming waste materials into creative outputs
- Collaborative environmental awareness activities, projects and efforts
These measures moved the school beyond awareness into systemic behavioural change, embedding reuse and responsibility into daily routines.
Impact and Outcomes
Through its participation in the programme, Agios Athanasios A’ Primary School has strengthened its environmental culture and established long-term behavioural change among students. Teachers and school staff played a key role in actively supporting this initiative.
Key outcomes include:
- Students learned about plastic pollution and received reusable water bottles.
- They participated in a waste audit to assess the type and quantities of litter, identify ways to reduce waste, and develop a sustainable action plan.
- Students took part in a beach clean-up, where they learned why every small action makes a difference.
- Students created artwork using upcycled plastic.
- A closing event was held during which the artwork was unveiled, and the initiative’s activities and achievements were presented.
Agios Athanasios A’ Primary School demonstrates how structured environmental education, when combined with practical action and sustained engagement, can lead to meaningful and lasting change.
As part of the Schools for Change initiative, the school continues to play an active role in shaping a generation that is more aware, more responsible, and more engaged in protecting the environment, both within the school and beyond its walls.
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