Materials considered garbage can be transformed into new products and sustainable solutions.
Em uma tarde de junho em Belém, estudantes da Escola Estadual Ruth dos Santos Almeida revelaram à comunidade o que haviam construído ao longo de um ano inteiro: projetos que transformaram resíduos em soluções e converteram o aprendizado em ação concreta. A segunda Feira Ambiental da escola não foi um evento isolado, mas o reflexo de uma escolha pedagógica mais profunda — a de tratar a sustentabilidade não como disciplina separada, mas como fio condutor de toda a formação. No horizonte dessa iniciativa está uma pergunta antiga, respondida de forma nova por cada geração: o que significa educar jovens para o mundo que precisam construir?
- Resíduos que poluem — óleo de cozinha usado, papel descartado, isopor que leva décadas para se decompor — tornaram-se a matéria-prima central de projetos estudantis com impacto real.
- A escola rompeu com o modelo de educação ambiental pontual ao integrar sustentabilidade em todas as disciplinas, criando uma tensão produtiva entre o currículo tradicional e as demandas do mundo contemporâneo.
- Estudantes não apenas aprenderam conceitos: fabricaram velas perfumadas, esculturas de papel reciclado e blocos ecológicos de construção, descobrindo que criatividade e consciência ambiental podem caminhar juntas.
- A feira revelou jovens que passaram a se enxergar como agentes de transformação — capazes de identificar problemas reais da comunidade e propor soluções com as próprias mãos.
- O evento aponta para um modelo educacional em expansão, onde empreendedorismo, ciência e responsabilidade socioambiental deixam de ser temas paralelos e passam a compor o núcleo da formação escolar.
Na tarde de uma quarta-feira de junho, a Escola Estadual Ruth dos Santos Almeida, no bairro do Maguari em Belém, abriu suas portas para a segunda edição da Feira Ambiental — intitulada "Ciência e Ação: Quando o Conhecimento Encontra a Prática". O que os visitantes encontraram não foi uma exposição improvisada, mas o resultado de um ano inteiro de trabalho integrado ao currículo escolar.
O vice-diretor Antônio Salles explicou a filosofia por trás da iniciativa: a escola não trata sustentabilidade como uma disciplina isolada, mas como algo que atravessa ciências, artes, matemática e atividades extracurriculares. "Mostramos aos alunos que ciência, sustentabilidade e empreendedorismo podem avançar juntos", disse ele.
Entre os projetos em destaque, o Cultivando Saberes transformou óleo de cozinha usado em velas perfumadas e desenvolveu cultivo de plantas medicinais. A estudante Marianny dos Santos descreveu a experiência como uma mudança de perspectiva: perceber que é possível contribuir para um mundo melhor ao reaproveitando o que seria descartado.
O projeto Fazendo o Meu Papel coletou papel descartado e o converteu em esculturas e objetos decorativos. Para Jéssica Luísa, participante do projeto, a descoberta foi dupla: aprendeu que arte e sustentabilidade andam juntas e encontrou novas formas de expressar sua criatividade.
Já o Química Verde enfrentou um desafio mais persistente: o isopor e o poliestireno expandido, materiais que levam décadas para se decompor. Os estudantes os utilizaram para produzir blocos ecológicos de construção. Arthur Rodrigo resumiu a lógica com clareza: reaproveitando esses materiais, reduz-se a poluição e demonstra-se que alternativas sustentáveis existem.
A feira também exibiu trabalhos em compostagem, jardinagem, hortas escolares, produção de sabão ecológico e documentação audiovisual sobre memória e transformação social — uma amplitude que revelou uma escolha deliberada da escola: tratar a educação ambiental não como complemento, mas como fundamento.
Para Salles, o objetivo central não eram os produtos expostos, mas o que acontece com um jovem quando ele descobre que pode resolver um problema real com as próprias mãos — desenvolvendo, no processo, criatividade, consciência social e espírito empreendedor.
On a Wednesday afternoon in June, the Ruth dos Santos Almeida State School in the Maguari neighborhood of Belém opened its doors to showcase what its students had been building all year. The second Environmental Fair—titled "Science and Action: When Knowledge Meets Practice"—filled the school with projects that turned waste into something useful, and turned classroom learning into visible, tangible work.
The fair was not a one-day event pulled together at the last minute. According to vice-principal Antônio Salles, it represented the culmination of environmental work woven through the school's curriculum all year long. The school teaches sustainability not as a single subject but as something that touches every class—science, art, math, electives. "Our students share with the community everything they've learned about environmental education," Salles explained. "We show them that science, sustainability, and entrepreneurship can move forward together." The projects themselves grew from real problems the students and their community actually faced: what to do with used cooking oil, discarded paper, foam that takes decades to break down.
One project, called Cultivando Saberes (Cultivating Knowledge), took used cooking oil and turned it into scented candles. The same students grew medicinal plants and worked on sustainable food production. Marianny dos Santos, one of the participants, described the shift in perspective the work created. "Learning to reuse materials that could pollute the environment and transform them into useful products—it's gratifying," she said. "You realize you can contribute to a better world and share that knowledge with others."
Another project, Fazendo o Meu Papel (Doing My Part), collected discarded paper and transformed it into sculptures, decorative objects, and art pieces made entirely by students. Jéssica Luísa, who worked on the project, found something unexpected in the process. "I feel fulfilled participating in this," she reflected. "We turned materials that would have been thrown away into creative works. I learned that art and sustainability can walk together, and I discovered new ways to express my creativity."
The Química Verde (Green Chemistry) project took on a different kind of waste: foam and expanded polystyrene—materials that persist in the environment for years. Students used these discarded materials to produce ecological building blocks. Arthur Rodrigo, one of the students involved, explained the logic simply: "We use materials that normally take many years to decompose in nature. By reusing them in the production of ecological blocks, we reduce pollution and show that sustainable alternatives exist for different types of waste."
Beyond these three projects, the fair displayed work in composting, paper recycling, gardening, school gardens, ecological soap production, sustainable chemistry, and even audiovisual documentation exploring memory, environment, and social transformation. The breadth suggested something deliberate: the school was not treating environmental education as an add-on but as foundational to what it means to educate young people.
Vice-principal Salles was clear about what the school hoped students would take away. "Our objective is to show students that many materials considered garbage can be transformed into new products and sustainable solutions," he said. "They learn to care for the environment while developing creativity, social consciousness, and entrepreneurial spirit." The fair, in other words, was not primarily about the products on display. It was about what happens to a young person when they discover they can solve a real problem with their own hands.
Citas Notables
Our students share with the community everything they've learned about environmental education. We show them that science, sustainability, and entrepreneurship can move forward together.— Vice-principal Antônio Salles
Learning to reuse materials that could pollute the environment and transform them into useful products is gratifying. You realize you can contribute to a better world.— Student Marianny dos Santos
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a school in Belém choose to organize an entire fair around student projects rather than, say, just teaching environmental science in the classroom?
Because there's a difference between learning about a problem and solving one. When a student takes used cooking oil and makes a candle from it, they're not just understanding recycling—they're experiencing that they have agency. They can change something.
But couldn't that happen in a lab or a classroom?
It could, but the fair does something else. It says to the student: what you made matters enough to show to your community. It matters enough to display. That changes how you think about your own work.
The vice-principal mentioned that projects grow from "real challenges" the community faces. What does that mean in practice?
It means the school isn't inventing problems to solve. There's actual waste—cooking oil, foam, paper—that accumulates in the neighborhood. Students see it, work with it, transform it. They're not solving a textbook problem. They're solving something they can touch.
Do you think students remember this differently than they'd remember a traditional lesson?
Almost certainly. You don't forget the moment you realize you can turn garbage into something beautiful or useful. That's not information you forget. That's something that changes how you see the world.
What happens to these projects after the fair ends?
That's the real question, isn't it. The fair is a moment of visibility. Whether the school sustains this work, whether students keep building on it—that's what determines whether this becomes a real shift in how they think, or just a nice event.