At the beginning of February, St. Kliment Ohridski Primary School in the village of Konstantinovo resembled a buzzing beehive. The children were excited, laughing, asking questions, and couldn’t take their eyes off her—the most curious bee, Elena. The children looked at the different types of bees through a magnifying glass, smelled the aroma of various bee products, peeked into a real beehive, and dressed up in bee costumes. The children looked at different types of bees under a magnifying glass, smelled various bee products, peeked into a real beehive, and dressed up in bee costumes. They received this unusual lesson about pollinators as a reward for their creativity and resourcefulness. The children won the competition for student projects made from electronic waste, announced by the Association of Bulgarian Black Sea Municipalities (ABBSM) at the end of last year. Their project, “Christmas Village” in a Microwave Oven, took first place in the competition, which featured 128 group and individual projects by students from across the Varna region. The competition was organized as part of the pilot information and education campaign “WEEE BEHAVE: Electronic Waste? Recycle and Save the Future!” During the campaign, ABCM experts visited over 400 children during class time. Through discussions, educational games, and workshops with practical demonstrations of recycling and dismantling old electrical appliances, they learned how every part of their old devices can be reused.

As a reward, the winners of the competition gained additional knowledge about how valuable pollinating insects are to us humans. At the end of the fun lesson, the children were rewarded for their wit with delicious honey from the Bee Garden in the village of Ezerec. The youngest children received a card with fun tasks entitled “Get to know bees, protect your future!”, while the older ones received a “Bee Ambassador” passport. The entire school now has the “I protect bees” emblem, and the school library has the book “#IDo EcoVarna” – stories about active citizens.

WEEE BEHAVE is an international initiative to prevent water pollution from e-waste by using it as a resource. It is being implemented simultaneously in several European countries—Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Spain. WEEE BEHAVE is based on the idea that awareness must begin in schools in order to influence families and ultimately communities.