Our objectives included: -Raising awareness of solid waste among students,teachers and families. -Increasing students’ awareness of the 5R principles (Reject,Reduce,Reuse,Recycle,Recover). -Raising awareness about the harmful effects of solid wastes on marine pollution,environment,economy and human health. -Disseminating good practices in different ways and platforms. -Promoting behavioral change through artistic,scientific and civic activities. -Building international partnerships and engaging in environmental actions locally and abroad. -Enhancing language and digital skills through international cooperation and digital platforms. -Integrating NGO experiences and school curricula for long-term sustainability. -Increasing European values in our students, including fostering a sense of European belonging and promoting cultural exchange between Turkey,Italy and Spain. -Enhancing knowledge of European institutions working on solid waste management. -Contributing to the priorities and topics of Erasmus+ by fostering civic participation through environmental protection,raising students’ awareness of solid waste pollution and biodiversity loss, promoting social innovation via artistic and outdoor activities and disseminating outcomes.
With the increasing population, technological developments and industrialization, the use of packaged products has increased, and environmental and climate change problems have increased accordingly.Solid wastes also negatively affect the environment and human health with the disease-causing substances they contain. The basic regulation in the field of Solid Waste Management in the EU is the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC. According to the waste management hierarchy, the 5R method (Reject, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover) should primarily focus on preventing the generation of waste at its source.When this is not possible,waste materials should be reused and recycled. Incineration or landfilling is the last option. All stages other than prevention at the source cause global warming and directly trigger environmental and climate change problems.It is a global problem,so action must be taken together. We applied for this project to increase students’ and families’ awareness about solid waste pollution and its impact on marine ecosystems,human health, and the climate.The project addressed the lack of direct educational content on this topic in our curricula and sought to promote sustainable habits to implicate all the community.