Date: 3 June 2025
Venue: uMkhumbane Hall, Cato Manor
Organised by: EThekwini Municipality and MetPac-SA
EThekwini Municipality in partnership with MetPac-SA hosted key events to celebrate World Environment Day. The celebrations brought together 7 Primary schools from Umkhumbane (Cato Manor) district. Learners from the seven Primary Schools were tasked with a project to create art from two recyclable substrates namely metal and plastic.
The celebrations kicked off with a tree planting and garden rehabilitation ceremony at Ukukhanyakwelanga Primary School. The learners together with their educators planted trees and rehabilitated their school garden. Parks department played a significant role in beautifying the school gardens by planting attractive colourful indigenous plants at the school. The beautification of Ukukhanyakwelanga Primary School gave the learners renewed hope and enthusiasm for their surroundings. They pledged to look after the environment by watering the trees and plants. They also pledged to recycle, reuse and reduce.
The event was marked by great participation from various stakeholders such as Wessa, DSW, Fibre Circle and Aquelle who are actively involved in several projects aimed at sustaining the environment.
The speakers took time to educate learners about the importance of taking care of the environment. The speakers imparted deep knowledge to all learners on how to take care of the environment by demonstrating new ways of recycling cans e.g. washing a tin at home and separating it aside from other waste products- a process called separation at source. Learners were also taught how to turn food waste into compost at home and utilize the compost for planting vegetable gardens at home.
The main highlight of World Environmental Day was the beautiful artwork competition created by learners using metal and plastic. The learners showcased their creativity and innovation in their creations, some of which included cars made from coca cola cans, robots made from cardboard, dresses made from plastics, towers made from metal.
The winning schools were awarded with certificates, trophies and various prizes.
Learners left the event with renewed respect for the environment and were ready to implement everything they learnt with their friends at school, their families at home and their communities at large.
