Program staff from the Waste Management Technologies in Regions (WMTR) project has shared a success story with us!

Mariam Khakhiashvili is a 16 year old girl from Ruispiri village, Telavi Municipality. In August 2014, Mariam was chosen as one of the winners of a school competition in which students made crafts from household waste. She then participated in the summer camp on integrated waste management that was organized in the framework of the project. 

During the ten day camp, specialists and representatives of different organizations introduced campers to the principles and approaches of integrated waste management, the concept of 4Rs (reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle), and many other interesting things. 

After the camp, Mariam returned to her village motivated to make changes and full of ideas. In autumn, when schools reopened, Mariam talked with her schoolmates and teachers about the significance of integrated waste management. She used the presentation she created during the summer camp to introduce local community members to the concept of integrated waste management, its principles, and ways to introduce this practice at the local level.

Together with her friends, Mariam organized a cleanup in the territory of the school and local culture house in the village. About 20 people (mainly local students) dressed in program T-shirts and caps participated in the cleanup event. Around 8 bags of waste were collected. Mariam and her friends are full of even more ideas and enthusiasm to make changes.

This story first appeared on the WMTR Facebook page. You can learn more about the craft competition and summer camp Miriam participated in our in-depth article. ICMA will be launching a website for WMTR in the coming weeks.