GIVING BACK PROJECT

Turning Plastic Waste into Children's Purses!

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Group of young Cambodian schoolchildren are picking up discarded plastic waste - plastic bags in their community for a recycle and ecological course at school.

Group of participating students with their homemade purse crafted from plastic waste during a fun filled ecological course - project for children in Cambodia.

Multicolor children’s purse and flower made from upcycled - recycled plastic waste during a creative and craft project for underprivileged children in Cambodia.

360 Production Asia works on photography services for businesses in Cambodia.

Also in this country, people are facing multiple environmental issues due to the plastic waste pollution. To take a small part in this problem, we engage in volunteer courses to teach local children how to *upcycle plastic waste into children’s crafts.

Our goals are to teach relevant skills, raise creativity and awareness of pollution issues to the young generation.

“Learning Through Play” is the focus of our Giving Back Project and presented as Fun-Filled Ecological Courses with children.

Find all of our Courses with Children, click here.

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*Upcycling: Also known as creative reuse, upcycling is the process of transforming waste materials or unwanted products into new materials or products for better environmental value -wikipedia

THIS COURSE

Teaches how to create PURSES using anykind of plastic bags.

From 2017 to 2018: We have given one course in cooperation with “Toutes à L’école” Organization (NGO) caring for underprivileged local schoolchildren in Phnom Penh – Cambodia.

There is no requirement for advanced skills or modern technology.

Courses organized by Julien Thomas

Customized children's purses made and crafted from discarded plastic waste during a creative and ecological course for children in Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

Schoolgirl from NGO "Toutes à L’école" is picking up a discarded plastic bag in a river in Cambodia during a fun filled and ecological course by Julien Thomas.

Cambodian girl is showing her homemade and multicolor purse crafted from recycled plastic waste material during a craft and ecological course in Phnom Penh.

Ironing and fusing cleaned plastic waste materials - bags to create upcycled plastic sheet during an ecological and craft course for schoolchildren in Cambodia.

Student from "Toutes à L'école" NGO with her crafted purse made from plastic waste material during a creative activity and ecological course for children.

Children's purse made from plastic waste with a plastic flower crafted during a creative and recycled project - course for schoolchildren in Cambodia.

Schoolgirl with her homemade plastic purse made from upcycled waste material during a recycle and ecological course for children in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Schoolgirl with her children's purse crafted with plastic waste at school during a creative and ecological activity - course and project for children in Cambodia.

Students from "Happy Chandara" school and Julien Thomas for a craft course focuses on creating children’s purses from recycled plastic waste material in Phnom Penh.

Child is painting and decorating her purse craft made recycled - upcycled plastic waste during a ecological and creative course - project for Cambodian children.

Course Overview and Goals

(click the tabs below to change the topics)

Just doing a project or sharing a message does not change anyone. Lasting change requires action.

To have a real impact, the aim needs to be beneficial and appropriate for the participants.

Every child likes to play and learn crafting.

1. The plastic waste

• The plastic bags we use – mainly discarded materials – are collected with the participating children in their neighborhood community.
• After the bags are cleaned, we have to cut them all into shreds to obtain an amount of multicolor materials.

2. Upcycling/Processing the plastics

• We teach how to fuse/melt the saved shreds using an iron, to create large plastic sheets.
• Shape the pattern of the purse from this sheet, do a little more ironing, create your handles and a purse is ready to be use.
pro tip: Handles can be made by plaiting plastic layers 😉

3. Children creativity is taking over

After a couple hours of work, comes the time to let the children to take ownership of their goods/creations.
Examples: Shape new forms (e.g. heart, stars or cutting a wellknown brand name) from plastic waste to fuse them onto their purse, writting a telephone number on it, grabing a glue gun for extra customizing/crafting, starting to put in a plastic bottle or a book in the pruse, and so on!

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Those moments and results are magical to us.
Because we know that we’ve brought a real unexpected fun and finals charming crafts to the children, involving complicity, friendship, and beautiful times.. from scraps.

4. Pollution awareness

With the participating children

now

very excited with the project, we can use that

new energy

to develop their interests into

this same waste material

we have used and which is definitely an environmental issue.

Happy Chandara School – NGO Toutes à L’école, Phnom Penh – Cambodia

Our method is not only to show the children “what” to do, but to teach them “why” what we are doing is important for their well-being and communities. And not just to tell them to clean up.

• Educational

– Make realizing that Plastic Waste (which is Free) can be reused for goods and also be entertaining.
– Raise and support the children’s creativity.
– Teach/Insist on speaking English and highlight the vocabulary focusing on the environmental issues.

• Prevention for the environnement

We use the participant’s excitement that is bursting throughout the course (view our photo gallery below) to raise their awareness about the plastic waste material and its environmental issues.
Actually, that same waste material which we had so much fun with!

– To the best of our ability: We discuss relevant media, teach, raise awareness and bring questions about the plastic pollution found/collected in the children’s community.
We are thinking globally but acting locally to demonstrate that this pollution is causing problems to our environment.
Us: “With all this waste covering the water, do you think the fish can live?”
Children: “NOOO”
Us: “So you will not have fish to eat if there is too much waste or we might get really sick.”

– Definitly, we are teaching new words and meanings based on environmental pollution and its issues.

– Impact with local cartoons focusing on waste problems & waste management – watch our playlist >

Happy Chandara School – NGO Toutes à L’école, Phnom Penh – Cambodia