The hood tightened on the head, the clamp in one hand and the garbage bag in the other, a hundred pupils of the school of Misery-Courtion braved the pouring rain Friday followingnoon to clean the streets of their village. Despite the unfavorable weather, the laughs were there.
The annual “Coup de balai” action encourages the population to participate in waste collection actions in public spaces. About fifty operations are planned on the cantonal territory. “The best waste is the one you never do once more,” Jean-François Steiert told young people. The Director of the Environment recalled that it takes three months for nature to decompose a tissue, 2 years for a cigarette and 450 years for a plastic bottle.
Better and better
17 years following the launch of “Coup de broom”, do we notice an overall improvement? “Teachers and heads of municipal authorities tell me that they generally found more rubbish at the start of the operation”, answers Jean-François Steiert. Without having a concrete figure, the elected official has the impression that behavior is improving a little all the same.
“In the first years, we found a lot of large waste, confirms Cindy Schneider, municipal councilor at Misery-Courtion. Now, we mainly find cigarettes.” The municipality has been participating in this operation since 2018. In the center of the village, a group of students show their findings following 15 minutes of research. “We picked up a lot of cigarette butts, plastic, cardboard and the remains of broken vases.” However, the trash is still there.
in the fields and on the sidewalks. Source: Hit
educate adults
According to Jean-François Steiert, a majority of waste is thrown from cars, and ends up in farmers’ fields, endangering animals. “Broom sweep” is therefore not the only measure taken by the State to try to fight once morest the problem. Friborg was one of the first cantons to have introduced legal provisions on the abandonment of rubbish on public roads. Throwing your waste in nature can result in fines ranging from 50 to 300 francs.
With “Coup de broom”, raising children’s awareness has another advantage: they talk regarding it with their parents and can encourage them to change their behavior. “We have a reverse education effect”, remarks Jean-François Steiert. The school of Misery-Courtion has precisely introduced the sorting of waste under the initiative of the pupils.
