School canteen… Really unpopular place for many students. Nobody would go there for gastronomic and gourmet experience. And many of us have not good memories about this place from our childhoods. However, kids from St. Albert the Great College in Valletta are definitely the exception. They will remember their school canteen as a place where they learnt about responsibility and importance of their own choices. Thanks to eco-school committee and We Eat Responsibly project, this unpopular and ordinary canteen was transformed into vegetarian one where anyone can have a tasty lunch.
New canteen
Just like at many other schools, students of St. Albert the Great College in Valletta were also complaining about food in their canteen for several years. When the canteen provider decided to leave, Eco-school committee took this opportunity. They knew that just talking about issues such as food waste or meat consumption was not enough. They had to take action! So, they started to look for a new provider, but this time, they wanted to find out a vegetarian one. The committee contacted various vegetarian restaurants and finally one of them replied to their request. After a few meetings and a very tasty and successful food tasting session, they agreed that this is the right choice for their canteen and mainly for their students. Taste, quality and diversity of food persuaded also the biggest opponents of this change. Eco-school commitee managed to prove that local vegetarian food is the possible answer for many issues and kids could like it very much.
Peacock Garden
Thanks to many important changes they succeeded to decrease not only food waste but also waste in general. Students started to bring their own cutlery, plates and bowls, so there was no need for disposable plastic utensils. However, the Eco-school committee did not stop with this project and started also other important activities. Students can help committee members to maintain the Peacock Garden, where committee started to plant various indigenous plants some years ago. Gardening sessions are led by Ms Emma and Yanica and during these sessions students help with removing weeds, replacing dead indigenous plants and disposing waste left by visitors of Garden.
The roof garden
This incredible idea of roof garden demanded a lot of work at the beginning. They had to clean up the whole area because it was full of waste material and hazards. However they managed to change it into a place for the school community to grow vegetables and fruit and learn about local food and nature. They even have their own wormery for composting. Students can therefore learn more about the importance of food and its impact on the natural environment. Thanks to the Eco-school committee they started to feel more responsible about their food choices and they know about the hard work which is hidden and is needed to grow fruit and vegetables.
Proudly hanged eco-code
Some students even created the eco-code that highlights the importance of eating local food and they painted their code on a bed sheet. This important bed sheet was shown at Valletta Green festival, where anyone could read what students from St. Albert the Great College understood thanks to the Eco-school committee. After the festival, the eco-code was proudly hanged in a prominent place in the school.
