La Escuela Nicolás Luna, de General Alvear (Mendoza), received an international award in the sixth edition of Smart Green Planet for its project Green Maze, a maze built with recycled plastic bottles.
Among more than 100 proposals from Spain and Latin America, the project from Mendoza was one of the most voted and shared recognition with initiatives from Peru and Spain.
“We are the only school in Mendoza and Argentina to receive this international recognition,” celebrated teacher Daniela Gómez in dialogue with the Diario Uno portal, who accompanied the students in the process.
How the idea was born
The project emerged in 2024 as part of a Problem-Based Learning proposal. The students had to identify an environmental problem in their environment and design an innovative solution. After observing streets, canals, and public spaces, they detected that plastic bottles were a recurring problem.
The response was creative: transform that waste into an educational and recreational space. Thus, Green Maze was born, an ecological maze that combines play, awareness, and material reuse.
Organization and teamwork
The students were divided into committees according to their skills:
- Report writing.
- Oral presentation and social media dissemination.
- Video and illustration design.
- Budgets and logistics.
The use of collaborative platforms allowed for coordination of progress and development of key skills such as organization, communication, and problem-solving.
International recognition
The project was selected to compete in Smart Green Planet, which brought together more than 600 students and a hundred environmental proposals. After passing the evaluation of specialists, it reached the stage of popular voting.
The community mobilized: students, teachers, families, and the Municipality spread the initiative on social media. The result was overwhelming: 944 votes, making it the most supported project of the call.
From idea to reality
Thanks to a previous departmental award, the construction of the maze will begin in Parque Luna, an emblematic green space in Alvear Oeste. The structure will combine traditional materials with recycled bottles and will be designed for children between 4 and 11 years old, stimulating skills such as orientation and problem-solving.
“We wanted to create a different space that conveyed a message about environmental care and waste reuse,” explained Gómez.
Community and educational impact
The Green Maze will not just be a game:
- Environmental education: teaching that waste can have a second life.
- Collective awareness: involving the community in bottle collection and construction.
- Local symbol: a permanent space representing the creativity and commitment of the youth of Alvear.
What began as a school activity transformed into an international sustainability benchmark.
The Green Maze project demonstrates that innovation and youth commitment can generate real changes, turning an environmental problem into an opportunity to educate, play, and build community.
Source: Diario Uno
