An awareness lesson on waste disposal with the LOGA class at the Instituto Dom Bosco (Brazil) March Parade

"A garbage collector is a garbage collector!"

 On March 22, the month's Technical Parade was held at the Bom Retiro headquarters. The Castelinho Cidade Ademar and Vila Paulistana classes were present for the training, as well as the Center's Educators. After some reflections on dreams, the theme of the opening and also commemorating the anniversary of the Institute, Brother José Carloto (Zézo) said: "Nothing happens outside of us if it doesn't start within us!". Next, the training session on the theme of sustainability was led by the Don Bosco Green Alliance group, who invited Diogenes Pereira, from LOGA - Logística Ambiental de São Paulo S.A., the company responsible for collecting, transporting, treating and finally disposing of household and health waste in the north-western region of America's most populous city, São Paulo (with the exception of the CEDESP group who took part in the training for professional learning centers run by the Salesian Network Brazil).

 At the start, Diogenes showed an awareness-raising video, revealing the collectors' yard, the route and all the difficulties involved in removing the waste, highlighting the importance of disposing of sharps correctly and separating waste between organic and recyclable. During the video, one of the statements made by the collectors, in order to demystify stigmas, was: "A garbage collector is someone who makes garbage!". Recycling is still a slow process, while organic waste generates 6,000 tons a day, it only generates 2,000 tons a month. Diogenes also explained how the whole transshipment process works, the process carried out at the landfill, showed LOGA's projects, explained the logistics of the trucks and showed the awareness projects carried out by the company in public and private places.The Educator then opened up to questions, the most common of which was how to dispose of certain materials, such as Styrofoam, for example:"It wasn't, it became, now it's not recyclable again (...)," said Diogenes and added: "(...) What happens is that technically everything can be recycled, as long as there are companies that buy it." To finish off this moment, the Alliance class performed a waste sorting dynamic, simulating the meal times at the IDB. The class also raised awareness about the importance of eliminating dengue outbreaks and, to finish, they donated Ipê Roxo, Ipê Branco, Ipê Rosa and Cedro seedlings to everyone.

 After lunch, there was a time for information with HR Manager Laryssa Ferreira, who also proposed a dream dynamic where the educators had to leave letters for the "I" of the future. At the end of the afternoon, there was a pause in the team meeting to applaud for the birthdays of the month, including the Institute itself, which celebrated its 105th anniversary on the 19th of the month. Afterwards, everyone continued with their plans.