ROG Ambassadors Program launched at Jasper Williams High School

It was a proud moment for 700-plus students and teachers as well as the parents and old scholars of Jasper Williams High School as the Lautoka-based school has today become the second school in the country and the first west-based school to implement the ‘Recycling on The Go (ROG) Ambassadors Program’, a tailor-made program designed to instill best practices of recycling in a school environment.

The event was officiated by the Minister for Education, Hon. Aseri Radrodro.

The ROG Ambassadors Program which is designed to impact mindset and behaviour toward recycling, is an initiative of the Pacific Recycling Foundation in partnership with Swire Shipping.

The program which was successfully piloted at Jai Narayan College in 2022, has been upscaled by the PRF through Swire Shipping’s continued commitment to the program and following the endorsement from the Ministry of Education.

“It is an exciting day for Fiji where we are now able to nurture our student advocates to take a lead role in becoming change agents of recycling,” said Mr. Amitesh Deo, the Founder of Pacific Recycling Foundation and CEO of Waste Recyclers Fiji Limited.

Mr. Deo said considering the fact that Jasper Williams High School is an all-girls and boarding school, they expect to get rich data in terms of behaviour and mindset toward waste management, which will be instrumental in the upscaling of the program as well as for stakeholders including the Government for policy development.

“We are also aware that Jasper Williams High School has a huge network of old scholars and expect the students to take back the message of best practices of recycling to their homes, communities, and former students,” said Mr. Deo.

Swire Shipping’s Regional Manager, Mr. Alex Pattison said they saw a need to properly educate the younger generation and provide them the platform to practice recycling under the guidance of experts, and in this case the Pacific Recycling Foundation.

“We hope this project continues to challenge the mindsets and preconceived ideas and influence behaviour change, especially in our younger generation. These ambassadors will lead our nation and be the change agents,” said Mr. Pattison.

The PRF will provide comprehensive training to the students of Jasper Williams High School, which not only looks at the best practices of recycling but gives a holistic overview and approach to waste management.