Between 21 and 29 June, five young people from various islands in the Azores took part in an exchange project in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, as part of the European mobility and learning programme ‘Erasmus+’ entitled ‘Trash the Trends, Save the Planet’.

This is an initiative of AJITER - Terceira Island Youth Association and several of its partners, namely the ‘Get Involved’ Association from Bulgaria, which hosted and coordinated the project, as well as the organisations ‘Creative Youth Academy’ from Turkey, ‘Zagorska kreativna udruga mladih’ from Croatia, ‘SCOUT SOCIETY’ from Romania, ‘South friends’ from Spain and ‘Easysustainability’ from Italy, with a total of 35 young people participating.

The AJITER group was led by Angela Chumbinho and consisted of André Pereira, Inês Antunes, Ricardo Silva and Inês Silva.

The project ‘Trash the Trends, Save the Planet’ aimed to involve young people in a critical approach to the environmental and social impact of ‘fast fashion’ and ‘greenwashing’. Through creative activities, such as the creation of interactive digital books, international collaboration and local campaigns, the project challenges consumerism and promotes environmentally conscious behaviour among young people.

Since 2012, AJITER - Associação Juvenil da Ilha Terceira (Terceira Island Youth Association) has been strongly committed to promoting the Erasmus+ programme on Terceira Island and in the Azores in general, offering young people this type of mobility experience with learning objectives.

In addition, AJITER is also part of the European network ‘EURODESK’, providing information and opportunities for young people in these areas at its facilities. As it has done for over 20 years, it will continue to develop these efforts.