Girls and boys from ten schools in Tegucigalpa are collecting and recycling trash and using the proceeds to pay for their own school snacks, as well as taking part in patrols that educate the public and ensure that garbage is deposited in the proper place. David Blanco, one of the teachers promoting the project at a school in the marginalized neighborhood of Los Pinos, on the south side of Tegucigalpa, told Tierramérica that the initiative is part of the environmental education efforts being undertaken in conjunction with other schools, with the support of the local government’s environmental unit.

The experience has sparked interest in two other schools in the southern Honduran city of San Lorenzo, in the department of Valle, which are now working to create their own environmental patrols for waste management and environmental protection in a region affected by heavy deforestation.