Queluz, a Home for Everyone – United by Creativity to Reduce Waste

Queluz, a Home for Everyone – United by Creativity for a Cleaner City” is an educational and community-based action developed by students of Agrupamento de Escolas de Queluz-Belas, in Portugal, as part of the European Parliament Ambassador School Programme (EPAS).

The action is part of a wider annual project inspired by the EPAS national theme “United through Creativity, We Build Europe” and addresses a real local challenge: the incorrect disposal of urban waste in public spaces in Queluz.

In some areas of the city, waste is frequently left outside containers, container lids are sometimes kept open with sticks or other objects, and exposed waste can become accessible to animals, contributing to litter, poor hygiene and the degradation of shared public spaces.

The project does not associate these behaviours with any particular cultural or social group. On the contrary, Queluz is a diverse and multicultural community, and this diversity is approached as a valuable resource for building more inclusive and effective environmental communication.

During the European Week for Waste Reduction, on 26 and 27 November 2026, students will take part in a two-day creative awareness action focused on waste prevention, responsible waste disposal and the protection of shared public spaces.

Building on previous observation and discussion of local waste-related issues, students will not simply receive an environmental awareness campaign: they will design, test and improve their own communication solutions for a real challenge in their local community.

On 26 November, students will work in creative teams to develop and finalise awareness materials. These may include posters, pictograms, short videos, digital content, QR codes and short multilingual messages. Particular attention will be given to simple language, visual communication and accessibility, so that the main environmental messages can be understood by people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

The messages will focus on practical behaviours such as placing waste inside the appropriate containers, keeping container lids closed, avoiding littering, reducing unnecessary waste, separating recyclable materials correctly and taking care of shared public spaces.

Students will also compare different communication approaches and collect feedback in order to identify which formats, images and messages are clearer and more effective. In this way, multilingualism and creativity become tools for environmental education and social inclusion.

On 27 November, the students’ materials will be presented and disseminated within the school community, launching the wider awareness campaign “Queluz Limpa, Casa de Todos” – “Clean Queluz, a Home for Everyone”.

The action combines environmental education, creativity, youth participation, multilingual communication and European citizenship. Students will explore waste prevention, reuse, recycling and circular economy principles while understanding how local environmental challenges are connected to wider European sustainability objectives.

The EWWR action will not end on 27 November. The materials created by the students will become part of a broader community project that will continue throughout the school year. Whenever possible, they will be shared with families, local institutions, community organisations and other local stakeholders.

The project will also include follow-up activities to assess its impact. Selected locations may be documented before and after the awareness campaign, and feedback from students and the community will be collected to evaluate whether the materials are understandable, useful and capable of encouraging more responsible behaviour.

The materials and methodology developed by the students may also be organised into a small multilingual environmental awareness toolkit, allowing the experience to be shared and potentially replicated by other schools or communities facing similar challenges.

Through this project, students become active participants in their community: they identify a real problem, investigate it, create solutions, communicate with others and evaluate the results of their actions.

Different voices, one shared space, one common goal: a cleaner Queluz for everyone.

United by creativity, we can reduce waste and build a more sustainable Europe.