Deplastify the Planet – 1^st students’ exchange in Austria

From the 11^th – 18^th February 2023 the BG/BRG Judenburg hosted the first students’ exchange for the EU-project “Let’s deplastify the Planet”. 29 Austrian students welcomed 29 students from Belgium, Coratia, Portugal, Spain and Aruba (Netherlands). The main topics of this exchange were raising awareness of the negative impact of plastic on the environment and finding strategies how to reduce and avoid plastic trash in general. This students exchange was implemented within the framework of the Erasmus+ project “Deplastify the Planet” ( https://letschallengethefu.wixsite.com/deplastifytheplanet1 ) coordinated by the belge coordinating school Sint-Gummarus High School represented by Eva Peeters and Johan Bosmans. 

The responsible teachers of the BG/BRG Judenburg Mag.^a Ilse Prenn and Mag. Bernd Fiechtl had prepared an extensive programme including a wide range of social, linguistic, cultural, ecological and sports activities. All participants arrived on Saturday, 11^th February 2023 using ecological means of transport (either train or bus). All exchange students were welcomed by Austrian families, who also accommodated all exchange students in their homes. 

Sunday, 12^th February 2023

The first day included different ice-breaking activities where students got to know each other. Students were separated in two groups and carried out different sports activities. These activities were led by the sports teachers Mag.^a Ulrike Schlacher and Mag.^a Birgit Figlhuber. After the first getting to know activities the Austrian coordinators introduced all participants and teaches to the programme of the week and how to use the digital platform https://padlet.com/letschallengethefuture/dptp-1st-students-meeting-in-austria-zk2c4rb705r96fke for a proper and smooth communication during the project week. 

Monday, 13^th February 2023

On the morning of the second day students and teachers worked on the preparation of the comic book, which is a main product of this project. The activities had been prepared by the belge project partner in cooperation with belge publisher “Sprenger”. The workshop was led by the two teachers Kristoph Decapmaker and Hans Smith of the Sint-Gummarus High School. The teachers introduced all students to the main topic of the comic book: 

“The world’s future is more threatened than ever! There’s a big villain who has evil plans to spread more plastics around the world – and he has the power, the money, and the team to do so. He just loves plastics in all colours, and he dreams of a world that simply drowns in the material. The clock is ticking : it’s high time to stop him! 

To turn the tide, our heroes need to combine their talents and superpowers. They need to travel around the world – visiting Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Aruba, and Austria – to team up and collect clues about how they can stop the villain and save the world. In each country, they face another challenge involving the impact of plastics. How will their journey go? How will they stop the villain? It’s up to you!” 

The students formed 10 teams of 6 students and each team developed one character. Participating teachers supported students to understand the tasks and to start working. Students created on overall: 

·       6 heroes, one from each country (Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Aruba, Belgium) 

·       1 boss / scientist / wise person to bring together, help and guide the 6 heroes 

·       1 big villain 

·       2 sidekicks of the villain

Additionally they defined the identity of their character in detail by answering the following questions: 

·       What’s the name of your character? 

·       What are the country-specific characteristics of your character? 

·       Define 2 strengths of your character. 

·       Define 2 weaknesses of your character. 

·       Define 1 unique superpower of your character – how will your character make the difference? Bear in mind that each character in the team of heroes needs to have another type of superpower.  

·       What drives your character? Why does your character want to save the world from plastics? 

At eleven o’clock representatives of the Sprenger publishing house and the belge coordinator Eva Peeters joined the project virtually meeting all groups one by one. All groups presented their outcomes and their characters online. 

In the afternoon the Vice-Mayor of Judenburg Mag. Thorsten Wohlesser had invited all Europan and Austrian delegations for a reception at the city tower. In his welcoming speech he pointed out the importance of students’ exchanges for the BG/BRG Judenburg but also for Judenburg. 

In the evening the hosts invited all project partners to join the official teachers’ meeting in order to discuss the project in more detail and to enjoy some Styrian culinary specialities 

Tuesday, 14^th February 2023

On that day all delegations went by bus to the “Zotter” chocolate factory. This factory was chosen because ecological chocolate is sustainably produced there. At the beginning of the tour at the factory all participants got an introduction on how cocoa beans are harvested and transported reducing the eco-footprint. In the second part of this introduction students and teachers got an overview how the factory is run and how organic and sustainable chocolate is produced on site. After this introduction on chocolate production all delegations had the opportunity to walk through the factory tasting different types of chocolate. Finally, the group even had the opportunity to take a picture with the owner of the factory.

After the visit of the factory all partners returned to Graz where students and teachers had some time to explore the city: Hauptplatz (main square), Schlossberg (castle hill), Rathaus (city hall), Landhaus (regional government), Murinsel (island in the river Mur), Kunsthaus (art gallery) etc. All participants also had time to eat lunch during this break. 

The final activity of that day was the visit of the nationally operating plastic selecting and recycling company “Saubermacher” ( https://saubermacher.at/en/company/saubermacher-eco-tours/ ). There all students and teacher could grasp a glimpse behind the scenes of the recycling industry and to see how Saubermacher works. As a partner in ‘Erlebniswelt Wirtschaft’, they offered students and teachers an exciting glimpse into the world of recycling and waste recovery. The automatic plastics sorting plant processes around 32,000 tonnes of packaging waste every year. The main task here is to segregate lightweight packaging waste from aluminium cans and tetra-pack beverage cartons. This involves a number of technologies, including infra-red sensing and colour recognition devices. The plant sorts and processes plastic packaging waste from all over Styria, as well as Carinthia and Vienna. More than 80% of the material received at the plant is returned to an environmentally-friendly materials cycle.