On August 29, 2021, CREASION with support of WWF Nepal conducted a ‘Zero Waste Workshop’ as a part of its bigger initiative Empowering Youths Towards Zero Waste National Park at Chitwan in CREASION’s regional headquarter in Bharatpur, Chitwan. The event was attended by youths from Sauraha and Kasara, and joined in by the CREASION team to learn to minimize waste in everyday life, hosted by Abish Man Shakya, VFC Program Coordinator and Rammaya Shrestha, Community Outreach Officer of CREASION.
The session began with an introduction to sustainable development, carbon footprint and climate change to fully understand how zero waste is not simply about cutting out being careful about consumption but also the creation and conveyance of products. The interactive workshop covered topics related to types of plastics and the right way to sort plastics into recyclable, non-recyclable and organic. It was then followed by an interactive session where the youth discussed how they could practice a zero waste in different scenarios from grocery shopping, in the kitchen and cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, for personal care, in the bathroom, buying clothes, while shopping, getting gifts, celebrating and in holidays, travelling, at the office, schools, public spaces and in any other scenario.
The workshop concluded with a reflection on the participants learning of zero waste and how the local participants who reside by the Chitwan National Park would apply the things they have learned in their lives. Despite the COVID-19 situation and heavy rain, the program was fruitful and will contribute to living with minimum waste so that waste and consequently keeping the National Park clean.