A life with less waste is easy to learn but harder to achieve

If we follow the footsteps of ecology, we reach the 12 labors of Hercules. One of them was for a life with less waste: cleaning the stables of King Augias, they remind us Anastasia Staicu and Alexandra Teleuca from the Seneca Ecologos Ecological Education Center. Seneca EcoLogos premiered the Separate Collection online course. Through scientific information in an easy form and with up-to-date legislation, the course represents the first steps to apply at home and at work for separate collection.

“It is the first ecology course with cats. No joke! Cats help to set up the collection spaces in the home, they give you practical advice on where to get the right containers for your apartment. It’s an interactive course, sometimes humorous and fun”, say Anastasia & Alexandra.

Anyone can test their environmentalist muscle and unravel the mystery of living with less waste by accessing cursuri.ecologos.ro. The Separate Collection online course takes about three hours and shows the first steps to practical solutions and answers to the Why and How questions.

Professor Garbolog together with Monica, Luca, Mr. Popescu and Alexandra are the characters in the course who guide the students during the 4 lessons so that they successfully pass the 8 tests. The Seneca Ecologos Ecological Education Center organizes and supports interactive courses and workshops for adults and children in schools, institutions and companies and since 2016 has organized more than 260 courses for 6789 participants.

I talked with Anastasia Staicu and Alexandra Teleucă about what you can do if you feel helpless, or you simply want a change and don’t know where to start.

How to train the ecologist muscle

It’s a hidden, unpracticed muscle that helps you recognize the natural resources in any object you enjoy. It’s a muscle that once you start using it brings good mood.

The story of the online course The separate collection

It was a natural step with the increasing number of requests for the offline course. Through the online course, we aimed to respond to the ever-increasing need from companies.

The learning experience

A life with less waste is easy to learn but harder to achieve. Do you still know the 12 labors of Hercules? One of them was for a life with less waste: cleaning the stables of King Augias. He used not only the power of his muscles, but also his scientific knowledge. He changed the course of the two rivers. This is what our students will try. In the very first lesson, two “rivers” appear, and you can change their course with “drag and drop”.

It is the first ecology course with cats. No joke! Cats help to set up the collection spaces in the home, they give you practical advice on where to get the right containers for your apartment. It is an interactive course, sometimes humorous and fun.

Separate collection workshops in companies

Since 2017, we have partnerships with companies for whom the word sustainable development is not just a marketing slogan. One of the main takeaways was that it’s no use talking to people about sustainability if you haven’t done anything about it yourself.

The fact that the SNK Association has the first green publishing house from Romania calculates its carbon footprint, then plants trees, gives credibility to our speech. And the fact that our advice is based on personal experience helps learners take action more than official statistics. Apart from knowledge, people need guidance in implementing the first steps, and we offer assistance in this regard.

Photo credit: Cristian Eduard Dragan

How the business environment manages to reinvent itself to reduce its ecological footprint

I can only answer for the companies we have worked with. These companies implement footprint reduction measures and monitor the results. There’s no way you won’t succeed if you set realistic and measurable goals.

How did you recruit Professor Garbologist

I discovered it while working on our online course while documenting. We “found” it at the landfill while reading the newspaper “Scânteia” from 1973. We, knowing that paper decomposes in a maximum of three years, were surprised and approached the teacher. That’s how I learned about a new science, garbology. More to come! :)))

Photo credit: Cristian Eduard Dragan

Plans for the Seneca EcoLogos Education Center

We have many plans! New courses are coming in the Seneca Ecologos platform. We are expanding our team of trainers and content creators. The CSR reporting team is also growing.

And we hope that we will fulfill our dream this year – the opening of the Seneca Ecologos Interactive Environmental Museum in Bucharest. We even hire. We’re working hard. We don’t create dramas, but we stage shows!

The case supported by the separate Collection

We will reprint the book Atlas 2038 – Futures of the World. This book is like an open window on the world, the maps, graphs and collages in this work invite the reader to explore the possible dimensions, where the future is chosen, far from prejudices and old habits. Atlas 2038 is a forward-looking, aesthetic, humanistic exercise in connecting the great world stakes and deciding what tomorrow will look like. The future as an open book. As we will build it.

Photo credit: Cristian Eduard Dragan

From the sales of the separate collection online course, Seneca EcoLogos will republish “Altasul 2038. Futures of the world”. To take steps together, we offer 40% discount throughout the month of May.