The late Pope Francis, in his second encyclical titled, Laudato Si, officially called all Catholics to ‘care for our common home.’ His Holiness lamented the degradation of God’s creation through irresponsible economic development, consumerism and called all the people of the world to work together and address this issue.
Xavier College was introduced to the Season of Creation by Columban Fr. Pat Colgan and is celebrated annually from September 1st to October 4th. Xavier College has had a longstanding history with the Columbans who managed and staffed the school from 1953-1987 where an interim stood in as manager. In 2021, the school was handed back to the Archdiocese of Suva and came back under the management of Christ the King Parish which was led by Columban parish Priest, Fr. Pat Colgan who immediately became the titular School Manager of Xavier College.
Xavier College students have won first prizes since the Columban Season of Creation Competition began and this continued over several years which led to ongoing advocacy programs on care for creation during school activities and assembly presentations. The Ecological Stations of the Cross was a particular highlight where students chose specific locations outside to either be still and to feel God’s presence or to understand the cry of creation and its need for protection, e.g. the incinerator, where rubbish is burnt resulting in air pollution.
Due to these continued activities a lot of awareness was created and the gradual accumulation and increase of plastic pollution in town, at the bus stand, on the roads, in our communities, and sometimes in our school, made us realise the ubiquity of plastics and the need to do something about it. Our beaches, rivers, and surrounding eco-systems were becoming an eyesore and during the rainy season, plastics would often block drains and contribute to the flooding of our town.
We have always prided ourselves as a clean school for the last 30 years and have worked hard to maintain the cleanliness of our compound throughout each academic year, recently however, we began noticing the school landscape was gradually being transformed by plastics.
The Jubilee Year of Hope inspired the teachers and students at Xavier College to embark on a Waste Management Project as part of our Pilgrims of Hope activity and we aim to reduce the use of plastic by 20% this year and by 50% in 2026. We want to declare Xavier College as a plastic free school by the end this initiative over the next five years.
Student leaders have been organised in each form to mobilize their classes while teaching staff provide guidance and support. Each classroom has a set of four bins labelled as biodegradable, non-biodegradable, clean paper, clean and bottles/plastics. The student leadership team are expected to monitor the bins and empty them into appropriate trolley bins, that were kindly sponsored by the Columban Mission Office in Melbourne. We are also monitoring the project but this process longer than expected to conduct due to the obstacles faced, limited timing, and lack of expert training to help us conduct such a comprehensive project.
During ‘Plastic Free July’, we will encourage our students and teachers to pack their roti parcels in reusable containers, for the school canteen to use plates when serving lunch, and for all staff and students to refrain from single use plastic wrapped items. In the coming weeks, we also hope to receive visitors from the Pacific Recycling Foundation (PRF) to facilitate some waste management training for staff and students.
In the spirit of this Jubilee year, it is our prayer that more opportunities to build our capacity will help sustain this school project and shape Xavier College into a model of faithful environmental stewardship for other like-minded schools to follow in their own communities throughout Fiji.
Written by Margie Muller
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