SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine — This year’s edition of the LASCO Re-Leaf Environmental Awareness programme, which was launched at the beginning of the month, will focus on the management of the country’s various resources and will initiate a school environment manual and a heritage tour, slated for January 2015.

The theme of the programme is ‘Where there is a will, there is no waste’. It is significant, organisers believe, because of the negative environmental impacts being experienced such as the year-long drought and the related water shortage, high food costs, as well as solid waste management challenges.

“Coming out of a drought this year, the idea is to focus heavily on resource management, meaning how we dispose of our garbage, how we use our water and electricity, how we use our telephones, even the cutting down of trees which provide fuel. We want to think of innovative ways — how it is we can help our island by saving and conserving and creating the smallest amount of waste possible,” explained LASCO REAP Project Director Stephen Newland.

He was speaking at the launch, held at St Jago Cathedral Preparatory School which snagged last year’s top prize with innovations that included a greywater system to re-use the wastewater from the school’s canteen to irrigate a banana walk, and a solar cooker.

LASCO REAP was launched in 2012 with 50 schools. By the second year there were 131 schools, both primary and preparatory, participating under the theme ‘Eat Locally, Think Globally!’ The programme encourages students to find creative and innovative ways to conserve energy, recycle and keep their school environment clean. It also has a strong emphasis on tree planting.

For its third year, LASCO will continue to promote student participation in environmental protection, having invested $19 million over the three years. Managing Director of LASCO Distributors Limited Peter Chin explained why the company became involved with the REAP project, a brainchild of Newland’s reggae band Rootz Underground.

“Our mandate is to protect the well-being of Jamaicans and protecting the environment against harmful impacts is a significant part of achieving this objective. The way we treat the environment affects the quality of life of persons, and improper care of our surroundings can lead to serious health risks, among other negative effects. This year’s objective to tackle waste management is indeed timely and I implore the students and communities to do their part in taking care of our surroundings,” Chin said.

In the schools and communities targeted this year, LASCO REAP aims to improve on the 11,000 trees it has planted, the 85,000 plastic bottles collected and the almost 100 gardens started since the inception of the programme.

Students will be vying for a computer lab with 10 computers, to be awarded to the first-place school; a laptop and projector, for second place; and a flat-screen television for third place.