“Tiganokinisi”- A program for recycling cooking oil and producing biofuel
Description
TIGANOKINISI Program seeks to make the school a learning organization in environmental and sustainable development issues. The emphasis is on the issues of the collection, management and recycling of cooking oils in the context of the creative interaction of the schools with local communities and wider civil society on the basis of an "open" learning processes and effective environmental interventions in school and community. Schools after selling the Used Cooking Oil (UCO) that students bring from their homes. 390 of Schools are involved, collecting more than 400 tones of UCO providing for schools over €300.000 for investment in sustainable practices.
The novelty of the program is the link of an environmental related issue i.e the management of a harmful waste (UCO), the provision of funds to schools to invest in sustainable practices so that their school to become long-term sustainable. The innovation of the program based on the effort for being schools communities of learning for sustainability not only for the students but for the whole community. The program its self is a social initiative that encourages and supports the involvement of local community. Local authorities and businesses are engaged as they donate all or part of their UCO as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes to schools. The program contributes to help meet SDG 17 by encouraging effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships. Also, the program responds to the SDG 3 “Good health and well-being”, to SDG 7 “Affordable and clean<br />
energy”. At the end of the school year, each school receives an amount equivalent to approximately 500-600 euro for each tonne of UCO collected at that school. Each school invests these funds according to its sustainable environmental education policy, set at the beginning of each school year, which is based primarily on the SDGs. The schools are also encouraged to invest in infrastructures which will have tangible results and are based on the sustainable school principle. The program has recently developed an educational online platform presenting the schools’s investments under each SDG http://tiganokinisi.eu/categories) and promoting good practices among schools and the general public. Schools are encouraged to invest in practices that have target more than one SDGs. <br />
To this end the program helps to meet SDG 13 by improving education, awareness-raising and capacity on climate change mitigation measures through the implementation of environmental friendly solutions. Tiganokinisi also provides continues formal, non formal and informal education that enables the enhancement of SDG awareness raising and education in schools and helps meet the SDG 4 ‘Quality Education’. A teacher’s guide has been prepared which allows teachers to use the project as an educational tool in their classroom. Participating schools are also visited by a team of young educators, (unemployed graduates, scientists, engineers etc) that deliver age-appropriate, interactive presentations to raise awareness on the impacts of the program and to educate students on the principles of sustainable development. Students are also encouraged to experiment, develop their own digital or physical applications/products/processes, and test their ideas within the school environment. The school becomes the point of reference of the local society, where citizens can be educated about environmental and sustainable practices that can adopt in their everyday lives.<br />
Informational- educational workshops are organized by schools, inviting several local actors, to raise awareness on the benefits of UCO collection through Tiganokinisi, and present and demonstrate the green ‘Infrastructure and Technologies’ and sustainable practices the school has invested using there courses gained by the program.
Culture and the support of several institutions, trades and professionals such as the Department of Environment, the Commissioners of the Environment and of Voluntarism, the Ministry of Finance. Schools and students from all the educational levels are the main beneficiaries. Schools encourage the involvement of local community by inviting businesses to donate at least part of their UCO to their neighbourhood’s school and collaborating with local authorities to facilitate UCO collection.
In 2012, the NGO AKTI Project and Research Centre with the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus, decided to focus on the problem of domestic used cooking oils, with implementation of a social project addressed to kids and unemployed youth. The project was named ‘Tiganokinisi’ (literally meaning ‘pan movement’ in Greek), and has education at its core.
The program works as follows: Schools express interest to install a collection barrel in their premises and their students bring UCO from
home. AKTI collect and sell the UCO to conversion factories to be transformed into biofuel. Parallel the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute is guiding schools on how to use their profits in order to implement their Sustainable Educational Policy. The profits are distributed back to schools, to be invested in sustainable practices and green infrastructure. There are several monitoring mechanisms set in place to ensure the optimum implementation of the project.
Oil collection process: An oil collection drum is installed at the school, in a suitable, accessible and secure location. Each school then defines a day of the week when students take UCO from home and deposit it in the drum. Once the drum is almost full the schools contact the program, a driver/ educator is dispatched to the schools and the oil is collected. This process offers an interactive communication between schools and Tiganokinisi, allowing information to flow, and corrective actions to be implemented in the collection process.
Continues communication and support to schools: The Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus is the official contact point through which schools are informed about the implementation of the project. At the same time AKTI Project and Research Centre (the actual implementer) offers hands-on support to schools when ever needed and by providing scientific know-how for the implementation of sustainable practices towards achieving the sustainable school principle.
Educational presentations and experiments: Participating schools are visited by AKTI’s team of young educators, who are mainly unemployed graduates, scientists, engineers etc that deliver age-appropriate, interactive presentations to raise awareness on the impacts of the program and to educate students on the principles of sustainable development. In addition AKTI has created a mobile experimental educational unit in which the experimental process for the conversion of cooking oil into biodiesel takes place. This unit travels to schools and public events for on-site experimental education.
Online educational tools and information: Schools have access to Tiganokinisis’ website (www.tiganokinisi.eu) through which they can be informed about the program, can be motivated by checking the ranking list of the most efficient schools involved in the program in terms of the
collected UCO, identify sustainable ‘green’ technologies that they can implement at the school using the funds received and have access to relevant educational material. Also, all the schools as a prerequisite they submit an evaluation form at the end of the school year, justifying and explaining which sustainable practices applied with the money that received back from THGANIKINISI to their school.
Since 2012, the engagement of local community has significantly strengthen, resulting in a total of 95 local business donating all or part of their UCO to their neighborhood schools, and a number of over 5 collection barrels places at central location within different local communities during the school year 2017-2018. This was mainly achieved by the active involvement of local authorities in support of their school, the mobilization of schools in promoting Tiganokinisi to their local society and the tangible results of the program. ‘Tiganokinisi’ already featured in the 2018 'Manual of success stories on social entrepreneurship' within the' Play Europe' project (www.playeurope-project.eu) as a successful social intervention in Cyprus. The Used cooking oil is the “fuel” for the sustainability of the program and schools providing long term results including: Ongoing environmental education, which includes practical activities and teaching, learning through practice and implementation of environmentally and sustainable friendly practices. Youth participation: The success of the program depends a great deal on the participation of student’s. Unlike adults, children and youth have not defined habits, therefore interventions that promote more environmentally conscious behaviors are more readily accepted. Enhanced Public commitment / public support: Local authorities and businesses are involved in supporting their neighborhood school. Investment in Green infrastructures through the provision of financial resource the program offers long term benefits to schools, school students and the environment. Inclusive Approach to teaching, sustainable development at students of all ages and backgrounds through experimental demonstration and appropriate presentations.
with over 20 years of experience in civil society actions and project implementation. Also the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute through the Unit of Education of Environment and Sustainable Development which is responsible for implementing ESD in national context is a governmental organization that is ensuring the sustainability of the project. The program has also ensured its financial sustainability by securing resources, apart from revenues from the sales of UCO by AKTI. This was circumvented through securing financial support provided by the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute as revenues to schools for each tone of UCO collected and additional support provided often times by grants available through private organizations under their Corporate Social Responsibility Schemes. The long term aim of the program is to engage all schools in Cyprus, enroll more local business and community,
reach the target of collecting the largest percentage of domestic used cooking oil in Cyprus, and maximize the resources returned to schools to be invested in sustainable practices. Eventually, Tiganokinisi could be replicated internationally as a best practice for promoting sustainable
development and education to schools through the management of a harmful waste.
The innovation of the project lies within its multidisciplinary approach and related impacts that can contribute to the implementation of sustainable development. Especially in terms of promoting sustainable practices the program provides the funds for practical application of sustainable technologies at schools and offers innovative tools to raise awareness, educate students and involve local society in finding solutions to societal challenges. The project also meets several social needs and educational needs such as employing young scientists as environmentale ducators/trainers and developing educational material based on sustainable practices and promoting STEM among students. The program itself helps to meet SDG4, 13 and 17 by promoting quality education, improving education, awareness-raising and capacity on climate change mitigation measures and by encouraging effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships. In addition the program motivates schools to implement actions that address all the 17 UN SDG and facilitates their realization, together with ongoing environmental education and awareness raising and provision of<br />
scientific know- how. It is a ground- breaking approach that produces tangible social environmental and financial results based on a solution- oriented approach and fostering cooperation among youngsters, local community and the civic society
that includes information about the program, the schools and schools supporters, sustainable practices and technologies
Dedicated page to presenting schools’ actions implemented under the SDG
http://tiganokinisi.eu/categories
Informational video of Tiganokinisi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIfZjWljoT0
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Deliverables & Timeline
Resources mobilized
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- Europe
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Contact Information
Aravella Zachariou, Coordinator of the Unit of Education for Environment and