Recycling On the Go ambassadors must lead by example by practising environmental sustainability in all aspects of their lives, says Jasper Williams High School Recycling On the Go (ROG) ambassador Carissa Mario.
The Year 13 student was among student ambassadors who attended the ROG leadership forum in Nadi earlier this month.
“As an ambassador, I think that it’s quite challenging but through the past years, I’ve seen that if you want to advocate something, first you’ve got to prove it yourself,” Ms Mario said.
“For example, you can’t just say, ‘oh, you’re an ambassador; but you don’t put action into it.
“If you want people to follow in your footsteps, you’ve got to prove it.
“If you’re an ambassador, you’ve got to show what it is to be an advocate for recycling and I think that if you want change to happen, that change has to start with you first.”
Ms Mario has been an ROG ambassador for three years.
“I’ve been an ambassador since Year 11, ever since the program was introduced to our school.”
The lack of cooperation from students and a general lack of information are some of the challenges she has faced, however, these were addressed through the assistance of her teachers.
“In our school, ROG ambassadors are given time every morning to go and speak to students from individual classes about the importance of this program and how it will benefit us.
“Some skills that I’ve learned as an ambassador are, if you use tin cans, you need to wash them first before you place them in the recyclables. Plastic bags need to be cleaned thoroughly because if it is not cleaned and you put it together with other recyclables, it can contaminate all the recyclables.”
Ms Mario said she hoped the ROG program would be promoted on a larger scale.
