In order to raise awareness of the environment and to promote recycling, final-year UP Education student Irini Moutzouris entered Miss Earth SA as part of her community engagement project for Visual Arts in the Department of Humanities Education – and won. She will use the platform to demonstrate the impact that visual art education students can have on a community.

The project was initially promoted by Nicolette Human, Miss Earth finalist (2016), a master's student at the University of Pretoria. Miss Earth SA focuses on women empowerment and leadership and exposes students to the reality of human involvement in the destruction of our environment and creates awareness around this.

'To me, being a Miss Earth South Africa winner means being a role model to fellow South Africans and an ambassador and voice for the environment and creating awareness about the environmental problems we face on a daily basis, especially in waste management,' said Moutzouris. 'Education around waste and recycling is key. It is everyone's responsibility and I believe that we all need to be re-educated on waste and our own role in the waste management of the city.'

Moutzouris will be representing South Africa in the Philippines later this year.