Zerowastepacific youthconvergence

Youth Convergence 36 students 2 days Unique perspectives

Youth Convergence 

Students from 10 different schools including public schools, private schools and the Guam Homeschool Association 

Father Duenas Memorial High School



Guam High



J.F.K High School



Guam Adventist Academy



Guam Homeschool Association



Okkodo High School



Southern High School



University of Guam



Guam Community College

What did students hear? 

Some main goals to work on and facts we heard include:  Educate youth about Zero Waste  Zero Waste plans are not built by government alone  Gathering data is important.  That data should be used to make informative changes  The Philippines is implementing different composting strategies in their communities  90% diversion rate in some schools in the PI  More than 100 local government units in the PI that have banned or regulated plastic bags

What did students hear? 

Some main goals to work on include:  Technology can be used to advance and make traditional ways more efficient  Zero Waste can be used to empower communities  The community needs to be creating involved in waste management goals  Zero Waste plans rely on having good goals  Guam’s Zero Waste goal is 37% by 2030  The Philippines is the first, and only, country to ban waste incineration  LEED building is not mandatory in all places  Women community members are making products out of trash/plastic bags in Fiji which is called Trash for Cash

What did students hear? 

Some main goals to work on include:  San

Francisco does a lot of composting, recycling and banned single-use plastic bottles

 Guam

DOE needs to implement programs to help our youth change their mindset to be green and recycle

 Zero

Waste needs to be incorporated into curriculum of the Guam Department of Education

 Farmers

around the world are in the form of slavery

What did students hear? 

Some main goals to work on include:  Refuse

and redesign are a new and important addition to the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle cycle.

 Green

waste should be called green resources because we are not wasting, we are reusing

 ACKA

(Awareness, Challenge, Knowledge and Action)

by Froilan Grate. People have to know things to be able to protect it, and then challenge themselves to change.

 The

10 years of Zero Waste Plan is important to effectively change and adapt our world

What did students hear? 

Some main goals to work on include:  AEE

stands for Advocacy, Education and Established Models

 U.S.

EPA Region 9 includes Guam, CNMI, AS EPA, California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii

 Composting

is more important than many people think

 Composting

reduces the amount of trash that would otherwise go into the landfill  One

use of compost is fertilizers. It is way better than chemical fertilizer

What did students hear? 

Some main goals to work on include:  Need

to be aware of the lifespan of resources we use and make decisions to reduced the use of residuals

 Need

to educate the youth to bring awareness to their families and gradually foster Zero Waste habits

 The

importance of measuring the recycling rate

 Plastic

bag reduction is necessary for zero waste

What surprised students 

Some surprising facts presented:  The

problems at Ordot dump are being mitigated right now

 UOG

has a “Sustainable house”

 Froilen

has not used a single plastic bag or plastic straw in 9 years

 Melissa

Savares actually goes to residents to talk to them if they have been illegally dumping

What surprised students 

Some surprising facts presented:  Rhino  One

beetles can make compost

of the GCC Ecowarriors is 10 years old

 Dead

animals can be composted

A

trash slide in the Philippines buried 100 people alive

 LBJ

and MLK were tight

 San

Francisco is 80% Zero Waste

Other observations by students 

“Zero Waste is the way to go and Guam needs to better their zero waste goal”



“Opportunity; there are many to support Zero Waste in Guam”



“The community needs to get more involved”

Other observations by students 

“You are never too young to make a difference and impact your community”



“Guam should have a composting infrastructure”



“Composting is an important and helpful tool in traditional farming”

Other observations by students 

“Guam needs to find practical, efficient and suitable methods to achieve our island waste management goal”



“We can teach you and you can teach us”



Give the young people the platform to lead”



“The secret to awesomeness is youth awareness”

Goals to achieve by May 2015 What should adults in Guam do?

What will students work on?

Goals for 2014-2015 

Goal 1

Goals to achieve by the time we are 30 years old

Goals for 2014-2015 

Goal 1

Thank you for giving us this opportunity We are thankful for the opportunity to listen, to learn and to share our ideas.

Participants of the 2014 Youth Convergence Zero Waste Pacific