Summit Education SA - Malnormags.co.za

facilities
The salad gardens
Birches Pre-Primary
Eco school honoured
with Eco-Youth award
at Eco-Logic Awards
Following a nail-biting month or so for finalists, the
Eco-Logic Awards ceremony for 2013 took place on
Thursday, 26 September at Maropeng in the Cradle
of Humankind, Gauteng.
Hosted by The Enviropaedia, in association with
SABC3, the glittering event focuses on Eco-Logic –
a mindset and value system that goes beyond products and
manufacturing to include how we run our businesses; how
we live in society and our communities and the application
of natural law to our politics and economy.
The Eco-Logic Awards was first launched in 2011 to
extend the influence of The Enviropaedia publication,
websites and the “ethical consumer” campaign. The
awards identify and give recognition to those individuals,
organisations, products and services that are making a real
and measurable difference in creating a more sustainable
world to live in.
The winner of the Eco-Youth Award is Birches
Pre-Primary School
Birches is a small Eco-school in Pinetown. Struggling
financially over the years; the school made a determined
effort to become environmentally self-sustainable. The
environmental initiatives implemented at the school have
included: recycling; water harvesting and reuse; food
gardens and fruit forests. Whilst it has taken 20 years of
ongoing dedicated and intelligently applied effort, in an
exercise done recently in Grade R; the students confirmed
Birches Pre-Primary School principal Scilla Edmonds
(left) and Zanele Masuko of Pick n Pay
that as a result of all the work done, they can now live on
the premises comfortably and sustainably as if it were an
island – for the rest of their lives.
The other finalists considered for this award were Bodado
Production and Projects, the City of Cape Town – YES
Programme, Generation Earth-St John’s School and
Uvuyo Trading.
Says David Parry-Davis, editor of The Enviropaedia and
co-host of the Eco-Logic Awards: “The entries this year were
of a very high quality and it was a tough judging process to
decide on a winner for each category. The 2013 Awards
included new categories (such as the Municipality category),
networking events and sponsors and we are growing at a
faster pace than we initially envisaged. We are proud to be
part of this thriving Eco-Logic community and look forward
to 2014.”
Andre Nel General Manager Sustainable Development said,
“Sponsoring the Eco-Logic Youth Award is a privilege for Pick
n Pay. We are deeply committed to raising sustainability
awareness with young people. We incorporate environmental
and sustainable education in our Schools Club programme,
which reaches more than 1,8 million learners every year,
while our Kids in Parks programme has to date allowed
more than 40 000 learners from previously disadvantaged
areas to visit our country’s magnificent national parks, to
experience the majesty of nature and learn about the
importance of conserving our environment.” l
32 November 2013 | Education Southern Africa