Our project:

As part of the KGH's Erasmus + program, students from Leiden (NL) were guests in Haselünne in the week from February 18 to February 22, 2019. The exchange students were accompanied by two teachers.
The group of 19 German and Dutch students aged between 13 and 17 were asked by the town council of Haselünne to develop a circular alternative for the vending machines at the public swimming pools. Because these cause a high amount of waste in those public facilities. The participants were already familiar with the current topic of waste and disposal and so they rushed into the work with great motivation. The foundation of a school company in the form of a consulting agency with various departments such as marketing, inventories, finance and administration took place on Monday. On Tuesday and Thursday, the solution proposals and the presentation of these were worked on throughout the day. An excursion on Wednesday to Augustin in Meppen (local waste management company) and Gilbers machines 8an operator of vending machines) in Haselünne offered the opportunity to further inquire into the field. On Friday, the results were preyear 7 students. They were impressed by the ideas and work of the eighth graders.
T The activities of the student company can be followed on Instagram at clean.erasmus.

A student's voice:

Our assignment was, that we had to find a solution for using less plastic in vending machines at the swimming pool in Haselünne.

We brainstormed together and decided on what we thought the most efficient idea against plastic.

Our solutions for the drink & coffee vending machines was, that we use reusable cups (out of paper) or hard plastic cups with deposit money, but if you give this hard plastic cups back, you get your money back. Another solution is, that you bring your own bottle from home, so you don’t have to pay for it or throw it away. The containers in the vending machine could be out of glass and the drinks would flow through a tune into the cup or bottle.

Our ideas for the snack machines were, that the sweats wouldn’t be in plastic. We could use instead of this plastic wrappers paper bags, that can be recycled. The holders in the machine could be out of glass and the snacks would fall down through a tune into the paper bag.

We thought about another vending machine, which has departments, that can turn around. In that vending machine the sweats would be unwrapped, like at the other vending machine. For turning this departments, you have to push a button.

My tips for the Geo Circle project are that the wrappers should be out of materials, which are from natural materials and which degrade fast. Besides this we, the people in the world, should use less plastic and throw the trash into dustbins and not in the nature.