Art competition in Primary Schools with the title “Reduce, reuse, recycle” – Opening and Award Ceremony at the Municipality Art Gallery in Girne
By Heidi Trautmann….
Our Girne Municipality presented the outcome of its drawing competition on Saturday, January 28, 2023 in the Municipality Art Gallery. The competition is based on a grant from the European Union for Improving Waste Management. I spoke to the curators Burçu Veysioğlu and Aysun Çelik from the Municipality and learnt that the invitation for the competition with a formal prescription, see link, was sent to 19 primary schools in the Girne administration area and that they had a positive response from 12 schools with a participation of 251 works by students of two age categories. The best works were chosen by the jury, mentioned hereafter and put on display in the art gallery.
Murat Senkul, Mayor of Girne Municipality
Şenol Özdevrim, artist and art teacher
Özlem Ekinci Şahanoğlu, artist
Kemal Behcet Çaymaz, artist and author of the book series ‘Safir’
It was a pleasure to see the many children who had come with their parents to collect their awards and little presents for their work. It is at the same time an important task, an educational programme, to make children aware of our biggest problem, which is waste management in our society in which all its citizens are being made to use prefabricated goods in tins and cartons and wrapped in plastic, yes, to become aware of it and then go home.
For more information go to http://www.girnebelediyesi.com/notices/resim-yarismasi/…
The two curators were proud to announce that further steps for a clean environment have been started by the Municipality, that is waste sorting; in future, there will be three waste bins positioned in many places in and around Girne for PAPER – PLASTIC – TINS. I sincerely hope that the citizens will get used to the idea and help the Municipality in its efforts to change things for the better. I asked what is going to happen to the materials collected, but I did not get a satisfying answer. (The final goal should be waste sorting in each household, which at the moment has not been thought of).
I can add here, that I heard rumours that Near East University thinks of building a recycling factory for paper. We know from ÇADER in Çatalköy, that there are places where plastic is being recycled, also the recycling of aluminium tins should not be a problem. But what about glass? Here, we have the positive news that there is an initiative to grind glass in Karşiaka. That means, we would need a fourth waste bin for glass…..
As of June on there are no plastic bags to be given out in supermarkets but only paper bags or preferably, it is thought, the consumers bring their own shopping bags which should be the rule anyway, and here, a place for paper recycling would be most welcome. In connection with this idea, the Girne Municipality has given out fabric bags to all visitors of the opening evening.
A further reminder of this lovely event is a desk calendar with the works of the winners of the competition, to remind us for a whole year of the importance of waste reduction and better management.
I would like to speak to the children some weeks later if they practice what they have been painting and if they are proud of having done something for our nature to become healthy and clean again.
The exhibition is open until 3 February 2023, with visiting hours during official governmental hours.
To see many more pictures please go to my Facebook page
