Litter

The Kerkrade Children's Council consists of representation from all primary schools and from Kinderopvang Parkstad in the municipality of Kerkrade. The representation is elected per school. These council members then elect their mayor from one of the council members. 

In the children's council, pupils in grades 7 and 8 from all elementary school and from Kinderopvang Parkstad in the municipality of Kerkrade are allowed to discuss and contribute ideas about the municipality's policies. Especially on those topics that are directly related to the children. Ultimately, the children's council can also give advice. They themselves determine the topics to be discussed.
 

Rationale and approach

The children's council has chosen litter as one of the topics they want to discuss.

Review of council meeting Sept. 29, 2021 and May 18, 2022 and work visit municipal yard April 13, 2022
During the council meeting Sept. 29, the council members brainstormed with each other about what litter is, what types of litter there are, where you find it and why it is bad for nature. During the April 13 working visit to the municipal yard, the Children's Council members first took a quiz and interacted with each other. Then they were able to see what all is collected by the municipality, they were also able to experience for themselves what a sweeper truck collects and what materials the municipality uses to keep the city clean.
Finally, at the council meeting on May 18, all the experiences and thoughts gained were discussed, leading to the opinion below. The children's council has limited this advice to litter in their own environment. So litter in oceans, for example, is not included in this advice.

Conclusions

Different forms of litter

  • Stuff (especially plastic) thrown next to the trash can
  • Garbage thrown into the street by people
  •  Trash of all shapes and sizes lying around
  • Waste (including plastic and glass) left in nature or somewhere it doesn't belong

Where do you see litter 

  • On the street (roadside)
  • In the bushes and next to the trash cans outside         
  • In the playground and sports fields                    
  •  Near stores, forests and parks
  • Places where there are no trash cans                 
  • Next to the highway        

Causes of litter

  • People throw it on the street and they are too lazy to walk further to a trash can
  • Youth toughness and peer pressure
  •  People throw trash in nature and not in a trash can
  • Trash is thrown over or next to the trash can

Why litter is not good

  • Animals eat it and get sick or die (choke or suffocate)
  • It also kills plants and trees
  •  Litter will rot
  • It is not good for nature (environmental pollution)
  • Litter can contain toxins and may take 100 years to go away

Dog Poop

Is dog poop litter or not? This question generated full on discussion within the children's council. However, the children's council is unanimous on the fact that not dogs, but dog owners have a responsibility in this.

Trash cans

Whereas in the first discussion about litter the children's council members all thought that there should be more trash cans, the working visit to the municipal yard has given a different view on this.
Through a quiz, but also by actually seeing what waste is collected, the opinion of the children's council has changed in this. The fact of putting new trash cans where there are none now does not make much sense. It will make the litter increase from one side and the other side, placing a new trash can also costs a lot of money. A new trash can in a new place also has to be emptied again. That also takes a lot of time.

Overall conclusion 

The children's council concludes that the topic of "litter" is a much bigger issue than previously thought. The fact that so much garbage ends up in (or next to) trash cans and in nature worries them a lot.
The fact that there is the possibility of separating garbage better and better is a good thing. That there is a little attention at school and there are volunteers cleaning up litter in their neighborhood are positive things. The children's council further noticed that the municipality is highly visible with their cars and materials.
However regardless of the form of litter, the main cause is people's behavior.

Advice and recommendations

The Children's Council advises:

Pay more attention to litter in primary and secondary schools

Recommendations

  • Health that the topic of litter is included in the curriculum. Health for awareness of the effects of litter.
  • Make use of both online and physical learning materials.
  • Organize one or more activities around this topic, by visiting municipal yard, Rd4 or participating in actions such as "NL does".

Emptying trash cans more often

Recommendations

  • Placing trash cans in places where there is no trash can yet has a negative effect. However, emptying existing trash cans more often ensures that less litter ends up on the ground.
  • Investigate opportunities to separate waste already at the trash can. Involve RD4 in this as well. 
     

Reporting point of litter

Recommendations

  • Increase awareness of the hotline through the "outside better" app. 
  • Use hotline also when trash cans are full.
     

Campaign against litter

  • Recommendations
  • Awareness of the consequences among all the people of the city.
  • Create campaign for different groups, both adults and youth.
  • Giving guest lectures at school, neighborhood centers and at associations.
  • Use the expertise of, for example, employees of the municipality or Rd4.
  • Filming by a well-known person from the region.
  • In the campaign also create a separate section for dog poop, telling what to do as a dog owner. Furthermore, also indicate where dog walking areas are and where poop bags can be purchased.
     

Communications

The advice is presented to the municipal executive and the municipal council of Kerkrade.
The recommendation will also be presented to the cluster consultations directors of the Kerkrade schools of Movare, Kinderopvang Parkstad and urban management department of the municipality.

Implementation

The new children's council will then put the topic of litter back on the agenda and follow up on the activities initiated.


This opinion was adopted by the Children's Council at its meeting of June 15, 2022

Hidde Sieler
Children's Mayor