Every second Saturday of the month, up to 20 children meet on environmental and sustainability issues. As plastic detectives in the supermarket, they can teach adults something else.
Frankfurt - One wears a fluffy white and black panda bear hat, the other a blue knit hat. Matt (8) and Levant (7) are experienced and really "old hands". In front of 18 other children between the ages of six and ten, they put on a small reflective vest on the playground at Plagiarizer and are also the first reflective tapes of glue that use felt-tip pens to put their names on their chests. For both, it is not the first action with the open children's group of nature conservation youth "Nausea".
Little reused
"Last time we collected garbage," says Matt proudly. "There I found a cigarette butt, handkerchiefs, an old umbrella, and boxes." "And me two potato sacks with mold, 18 cigarettes, a water gun, and two plastic bags," Levant shouts. Today, as plastic detectives, they want to visit supermarkets and see if they can do it without plastic. Matt is here for the third time. "I want to be just for nature," he says expertly, answering every question that Naught's volunteers ask the group. He knows that in Germany compared to other European countries the most plastic waste is produced. "220 kilos per person a year, and only nine percent of them are recycled." Animals die from the garbage, plastic bottles take 450 years to decompose. A boy suspects that the protective layer of the earth is destroyed by garbage. "Then we get a lot of sunburns. That's because of the factories for plastic, so CO2 is released. "
Huge interest
Luis Minger (21) has been with the Nausea and group leader for two years. He observes the children calling for the recycling of rubbish, moving to Mars and not using plastic but glass, paper, sacks, and wood. "Children are often environmentally conscious by nature and they are curious and resourceful when it comes to alternatives," he says. "The interest is so huge that we want even more volunteers."
He gives his group of five boys a list and a pencil. His colleagues do the same for their groups. The children should see if there are tomatoes, meat sausage, Panatella, yogurt, bread rolls, potatoes, shower gel, kitchen towels, ketchup, pretzel sticks, cream cheese and noodles without plastic packaging in the supermarket and in the discounter. Singer's group goes to the discounter. "If there is something without plastic, we'll put a catch on it. If not, across, "he suggests.
Leo (8) bites into a bread roll and nibbles bits of apple out of the lunch box while he is walking to the fruit and vegetables. "Direct hit," he calls with his mouth full and points to thick beef tomatoes with stems in a large box. Everyone knows that there are many tomatoes in plastic as well. "That's stupid, you can sell it out loose," scolds Matt. The potatoes are packed in synthetic nets with plastic stickers or in plastic. "It's different on the market," says Levant. Rico (7) discovered gummy bears. "They taste so good," he calls and takes large plastic bags out of the box. Leo shows him that there are many small plastic bags in the plastic bag. "Then you'd better get some who only have a bag," he advises. The loose rolls make for cheers for the little ones. As Minger points out her bags with a plastic strip in which customers can pack the rolls, Matt laughs. "Or you do not take bags, bring nets or bags, or take them that way."
The result is sobering. Of the twelve products, there are only three, even without plastic packaging. The boys find that "blatant". If it were up to the children, they would sell goods in the supermarket loose in boxes, offer more paper bags or choose glass containers. Matt says, "It's harder, but carrying brings strength and benefits health and the environment. That's just for nature. "
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