Litter Less CampaignI n v i t a t i o n Fo r P a r t i c i p a t i o nInformation pack for ASPnet members
Contact:
UNESCO ASPnet: Katja Anger-Delimi, Project Officer, ASPnet
E-mail: k.anger@unesco.org
FEE: Malgorzata (Gosia) Luszczek, International YRE Director
Foundation for Environmental Education
E-mail: gosia@fee.global

Foundation for Environmental Education
Established in 1981, the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is
the world's largest environmental education organisation, with over 100
member organisations in 81 countries. Through five ground-breaking
programmes, FEE empowers people to take meaningful and purposefulaction to help create a more sustainable world. With 40 years of impactfulexperience in ESD, FEE’s new strategic plan - GAIA 20:30 - prioritises
climate action across all five programmes to address the urgent threatsof climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution.

About the Litter Less Campaign
Mars Wrigley Foundation
The Litter Less Campaign (LLC) is a joint project between
the Mars Wrigley Foundation and the Foundation forEnvironmental Education (FEE). The campaign underlines
tangibly the importance of dealing with the issue of litter andwaste to minimize its negative impact on the environment.
With steadily increasing popularity, theCampaign has engaged more than 4.6
million students in over 35 countries
since its implementation in 2011. Throughcontinuous evaluation, the increase of thestudent’s litter and waste literacy as wellas their life-long skills and eagerness tolearn have been documented.

The Mars Wrigley Foundation partners with organisations around theworld to help people and community's flourish. Since its establishment
in 1987, the Mars Wrigley Foundation has contributed over 100 millionUSD to projects that support oral health education and care, improve
lives in mint- and cocoa-growing regions, prevent litter and waste andcreate vibrant communities.

4.6 million
Students involved

35

Associated Schools Network

Participatingcountries

The campaign is implemented through two of FEE’s educational programmes:
Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE). Through theseven-step methodology in Eco-Schools activities can take the form ofevents, products, or specific campaigns. Whilst Young Reporters for theEnvironment campaigns works through its 4-step methodology, focusing onraising awareness through the production of a journalistic piece (articles,videos, or photos).

Established in 1953, ASPnet contributes to
UNESCO’s function as a laboratory of ideas bypioneering and experimenting with innovativeand creative themes, contents and pedagogies
to translate the Organization’s values andobjectives into practices at the school level.
Through thought leadership, the network
contributes to the transformation of education systems and policies.
Current membership covers more than 12 000 educational institutions
from all levels of education in over 180 countries.

Why Participate?

Each year the world generates over 2.01 billion tons of waste. Litter andwaste clog our oceans, fill our streets and clutter huge areas of theplanet. They cause great damage to our natural environment, wildlife,and people’s health and well-being. Our ambition must be toeradicate litter and waste. We must rethink our approach to the things
we use and own, not only recycle, but reuse, repair and repurpose.
Following UNESCO’s successful Trash Hack Campaign, UNESCO’s
Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) and the Foundation forEnvironmental Education’s (FEE) Young Reporters for theEnvironment (YRE) are continuing their partnership through FEE’s YRE
Litter Less Campaign.
A select number of ASPnet members are invited to participate in thispilot project, which provides teachers with the opportunity toengage students on the issue of litter and to creatively raiseawareness of this issue in their local communities and beyond. Best
entries from participating schools will compete in the international YRE
competition and receive wide visibility.
The pilot will run for 3 consecutive years, starting for Year 1 witharound 10-15 ASPnet members from 5-6 countries. More countries andschools will join progressively.

Through the campaign, students will be empowered to understand key litter
and waste issues in their communities, and in turn drive awareness-raising
campaigns that focus on e.g. responsible consumption, re-use and recycling,
negative impacts of waste, thereby promoting and long-term behaviourchange as well as a cleaner environment. More specifically, participation willallow toStrengthen students’ litter and waste
literacy and reduce school communities’
footprint.
Increase student knowledge andpractical skills in preventing and managing
litter and waste, thereby promoting thecircular economy and fostering long-term
behaviour change.

Waste
reduction

CollectiveAction

Educate students as opinion leaders andactive citizens so they can findsolutions to litter and waste issues anddisseminate them through social media
and other channels.

EnvironmentalAwareness

Collaborate with other schools
nationally or internationally to disseminate
good practices, inspire action andcontribute to making a positive impact.

SustainableBehaviour

How does it Work?
Litter is a great theme to start working on environmental issues with students. It isvisible and it is easy to see improvements. Through the YRE programme, students
accompanied by their teachers investigate local litter issues, for example the effectof litter on local wildlife or human health, the packaging most often discarded bypeople, etc. The students then create journalistic pieces in the form of articles, photoreportages, or video clips. The production must include suggestions for solutions
on minimising litter. Students share their investigations by posting their artiles,
photographs and videos through print, broadcast or social media.

Teachers will lead their students to investigate the environmental consequencesof litter and waste, including the Circular Economy concept, and the Sustainable
Development Goals. Based on the findings, they will guide their students in thedevelopment of journalistic skills towards becoming young environmental reporters
and creating journalistic pieces for school, community and/or national media.
Teachers can implement the campaign in their classroom or through an extracurricular learning activity, e.g. club or other, they are leading at the school.
In this process, teachers and students will be supported through free access to arange of relevant online courses, including lesson plans as well as global webinars
for sharing experiences and good practices. Best entries will be highlighted via theASPnet and YRE communication channels.
“The YRE programme offers enthusiastic youngsters a chance to make their voices
heard and to feel that their voice matters. The ultimate goal of these young reporters
is to highlight environmental issues and to have them righted by the appropriate
authorities. By giving them this opportunity, YRE engenders in them the desire toactively protect and speak up for the environment. The programme develops young
people's knowledge about environmental issues and enhances a number of lifelong
skills including communication, global citizenship, individual initiative, teamwork,
critical analysis, and leadership.”
Gosia Luszczek, International YRE Director

About the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE)

It is a network of international youth engaged ineducation for sustainable development. Its goal
is to empower young people to take an informed
stand on environmental issues, investigate them,
research solutions, and report and disseminate thiswork through journalistic pieces. By implementing
the Litter Less Campaign through the YRE network,
participants develop precious skills, expand theirknowledge and report to become a driving force on
addressing litter and waste issues.

The Timeline
May – June 2022
• ASPnet National Coordinators from 5-6 countries are invited toidentify 1-2 schools to join the pilot.
• Selected schools identify 1-2 teachers as focal points, who register
their school’s participation by 31 May through a short survey.
• School focal points join online info-sharing meeting on 15 June(3-5pm CET, see your local time here).

Get inspired by stories
created through the YRE!

The LLC Model for Transformative Action Learning

September 2022 – April 2023
• Teachers and students participate in global webinars to learn more
about the Young Reporters for the Environment Litter Less Campaign.
• Teachers and students use the YRE four steps methodology toidentify and investigate a priority litter or waste issue throughyoung people led activities. They research possible solutions andmake a plan for a media campaign. They use the YRE Litter & Waste
Lesson Plans to support their learning.
• Teachers and students collaborate with other schools or youth
groups to address shared litter and waste challenges.
• Teachers and students participate in a wide range of Litter Less
Campaign initiatives and events including: (a) FEE Academy
courses on pollution, the circular economy, journalistic courses etc.
and webinars for experience sharing and (b) Community Action Days
and other global activities like quizzes or mini-campaigns.
• Schools actively communicate on their actions to raise awareness intheir communities and provide information to UNESCO ASPnet toprovide visibility to their actions.
Through all of these activities, students with the support of theirteacher(s), create journalistic pieces (articles, photos or videos) tocompete in the YRE Competition.
May 2023• Students present their journalistic pieces to their entire schoolcommunity & schools select best entries for submission to UNESCOand FEE.
• UNESCO and FEE pre-select entries and submit them to International
YRE Competition.
• Selected schools are invited to carry out the impact measurement
survey and participate in the impact assessment carried out by FEE.

June 2023• International YRE Jury selects winners & UNESCO ASPnet, FEE andYRE showcase best entries.

Credits
Contact
Katja Anger-Delimi
Project Officer,
Unit for UNESCO's Associated Schools Network (ASPnet),
Division for Inclusion, Peace and Sustainable Development,
UNESCOE-mail: k.anger@unesco.org

Project Coordinator
Malgorzata (Gosia) Luszczek
E-mail: gosia@fee.global

Impact measurement research
Shimon Ginsburg
E-mail: shimon@fee.global

Design and Layout
Yuwei Wang

Project funded by: Mars Wrigley Foundation
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Education, 2022
Initiated by: Foundation for Environmental Education and Mars Wrigley Foundation