RECAP: Slovenia WEEE campaign

"Separate E-waste and protect the environment," was the headline under which yet another regional campaign of the Life+ Slovenia WEEE Campaign "Odločuj!" was successfully completed, this time in the Pomurje region. The e-waste collection and awareness initiative was carried out by ZEOS with the cooperation of one of our important project stakeholders "Saubermacher-Komunala", a local public waste collection provider, and media support of radio "Radio Murski val" which announced the end of the regional campaign on Friday, 12th April.

Altogether 24 schools from the left bank of the river Mura participated in the initiative. With the help of the local community, altogether 18 different municipalities, students, and teachers collectively turned over more than 235 tons of waste electrical appliances and batteries. The result is more than perfect because the amount collected in just under a month represents almost two-fold the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment collected by the public service provider Saubermacher-Komunala in the region annually.

All participating schools provided enormous collective as well as individual efforts in supporting the campaign. Participating schools were competing among each other for the main prize: a concert held at their school by a popular Slovene celebrity. The second and third prizes included a day's free entry for the school in the local SPA, as well as practical prizes provided by the local dairy producer Pomurske mlekarne. Each school earned points for e-waste brought for collection by students and teachers, ZEOS and Saubermacher-Komunala organized logistics for collection.

Elementary school "Beltinci", which altogether earned 288,035 points is the campaign winner, followed by elementary school Puconci with 269,441 points, and elementary school Murska Sobota 2, earning 215,106 points.

We also rewarded schools that have accumulated the most points per pupil. In this group, it was the best elementary school Šalovci with 165,111 points and winning the prize to visit a local cinema on the day of their choosing. Šalovci was followed by elementary school Kobilje, earning 93,799 points and a day in the SPA, in third place came elementary school Prosenjakovci with 105,552 points and was warded practical prizes by the local poultry plant - Panvita.

We would like to use this occasion and dearly thank our sponsors, who have contributed greatly to the campaign initiative in Pomurje region. In addition to the school campaign, five awards to individuals who brought their e-waste to one of the collection centers were also handed out 2 refrigerators and 3 practical appliances.

The Pomurje initiative proved to be very successful for which we thank all the participants and our partners. Once again it has been shown that working together can do a lot for the benefit of all of us, especially our environment. We hope to repeat such an initiative in Pomurje very soon and surpass the achieved results yet again.