With the Town of Qualicum Beach proposing a plastic bag ban, Mayor Teunis Westbroek took the opportunity to ask students their opinions.
Westbroek visited a Grade 4/5 class at Arrowview Elementary School Friday (Feb. 16) where he was presented with a garbage can lid the students are painting to donate to the town.
Westbroek said he’s been working with teacher Jodi Waters and her garbage busters program for the past 11 years.
“Before you guys were born, Ms. Waters had a class of kids who she showed what was happening in the oceans with the plastic,” said Westbroek, adding that other people are now “finally picking up on what Ms. Waters knew back then.”
Westbroek asked some of the students what impact plastics have on the environment.
Some students said it harms the animals and sea life, animals are eating and dying from the plastic, and people are eating the fish which have digested the plastic.
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Waters said her classes take the impact of plastics on the environment very seriously.
She said she worked with the students to come up with the idea for the garbage lid design.
The design depicts the Earth in the shape of a heart with a person washing the earth to keep it clean.
“The whole idea is garbage art gets people to be interested and kind of think about it,” Waters said.
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