The Green Environmental Project is an RCE Khomas-Erongo project that consists of several smaller projects, including: Project Shine, Eco-tourism, Ecomate crtification and Environmental Education. Project Shine was launched six years ago on World Environmental Day by the former Mayor of Swakopmund Her Worship, Cllr Rosina //Hoabes. It is part of the bigger RCE project: Green Environmental ProjectThe initial goal of the project was to clean the main road from Swakopmund to Arandis of littering, especially glass bottles dumped on the side of the road. Since then the project expanded to include the shoreline between Henties Bay and Sandwich Harbour, aimed to remove littering from the beach and preserve our precious shoreline. In 2013 the Swakopmund River mouth was included as one of the areas to be cleaned.

The project sponsorship integrated commercial organizations like Namibia Breweries Ltd, Rio Tinto/R ssing Uranium, Namibian Ports Authority (NAMPORT), Murray & Roberts, Hotel Association of Namibian (HAN), Hotel Schweizerhaus/Café Anton, Walvis Municipality, NEC Stahl, Smith Sales and Services and the Municipality of Swakopmund with the assistance of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET). This is a reflection of the success achieved in networking through the RCE Khomas-Erongo.

Due to the success of the project, the organizers decided to add two additional activities namely Environmental Education and a Creative Competition during 2013. The Environmental Education was aimed at promoting recycling, reuse and reduces of waste, while the creative competition was aimed to stimulate school students to take interest in recycling.

Activities in the project includes:

Clean-up Campaign

1.1 Aim

• To minimize the negative effects of pollutants in the environment.

• Promote awareness among participating organisations and the sponsor’s towards environmental conservation

• To promote and support local recycling operators

• To emphasis the economic value of waste

1.2 Objective

• To remove all glass bottles and glass fragments amongst other pollutants along the main road from Swakopmund and 40km towards Arandis.

• To involve members of the community through non-profitable organisations such as churches, schools and sport clubs.

• To promote the recycling of solid waste materials such as paper, tin plastic bottles.

• To encourage other towns and partners to get involved in environmental issues, especially to sensitize fellow Namibians on recycling.

1.3 Creative Competition

Aim

The creative activity is aimed to stimulate students to take an active interest in the future of their environment by demonstrating their creativity.

Objectives

• Promote recycling within the local community

• Encourage environmental sustainability

• Give a new viewpoint to the meaning of environmental conservation.

Scope of Project

• The competition is open to all schools in Swakopmund, Arandis and Walvis Bay

• Learners are expected to create a valuable object from recyclable materials

• Registration to participate is free

• Three categories for participating includes, lower Primary grade 1-4, upper Primary 5-7 and Secondary 8-12.

• The awards are divided into three catergories for the individual students 1st prize N$2,000.00, second prize N$1,500.00 and third prize N$1,000.00

• Ecotourism activities voucher valued at the same amount will be handed out to each winner in each category.

• Schools of the first prize winners in each category qualify for a cash prize of the value N$5,000.00

• Judges will consist of representatives from the Ministry of Education, Rössing Uranium/Rio Tinto, Walvis Bay Municipality, Namibian Breweries Ltd and Swakopmund Municipality.

Challenges faced:

Initially it was a challenge to involve local organizations. However, through the RCE network and the institution of an Ecomate-award certificate to companies who are actively involved, not only through sponsorship an increasing amount of organizations joint in the project.