WeSeparateWaste Recycle, Nigeria

Project name: WeSeparateWaste

Project location: Surulere, Lagos NIGERIA

Website: http://www.weseparatewaste.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/weseparatewaste

Twitter: @weseparatewaste

Project description:

WeSeparateWaste is a girl-child priority non-profit environmental education development project that introduces proper waste management and disposal habit to public school students in Nigeria, the project started from Lagos state, precisely Surulere Local Government Area with the first school of impact being Eric Moore Senior High School.
The project started in November, 2015 with a small grant from the US Department of State and Lagos State Government Education District IV and is ongoing till date.

A total of 8 schools have been visited and these include:

1. Eric Moore Senior High School
2. Gbaja Girls Senior High School
3. Iponri Estate Senior High School
4. Ansar-Ud-Deen Senior High School
5. Obele Community Senior High School
6. Ideal Girls Senior High School
7. New Era Girls Senior High School
8. Surulere Girls Senior High School

Through this project, the schools and its communities have enjoyed:

• Public Awareness: Public demonstration and awareness of methods of proper waste separation for recycling at community markets by sharing flyers in English, pidgin and Yoruba.
• Community Walkout: A day set aside for waste collection and separation exercises in the school and its communities. Collected waste are sorted and sent to recycling companies.
• Waste Art Aesthetics initiatives to creatively engage students mind in reusing waste materials generated to beautify their classrooms, schools and even public spaces.
• School and community Waste Edutainment shows to enact the waste management habit through performance and performing art.
• Waste to Wealth training by experts, this is an entrepreneurship initiative on how the students can generate wealth from waste.
• Waste awareness club established called ‘Waste Rescue Club’ with slogan ‘don’t waste it, recycle it.’ The club is responsible for coordinating waste matters in the school and managing recycling processes introduced to the school through the project. Proceeds got from waste collected by recycling companies are used to acquire learning kits and materials for the waste rescue club.
• Internal school debate on waste and the environment, the winner of the debate enjoys some incentives and becomes the waste recycling ambassador of the school for a period of time.

We decided to focus on young students with more emphasis on girls, they account for over 60% of participating students. Teenagers are our target audience because, more than 40% of the total population of Lagos are teenagers and if they are properly informed about the need to recycle and manage waste properly, we believe they would be able to pass the message across to extended family members and neighbours alike.

WeSeparateWaste as an environmental education and advocacy project focuses specially on waste sensitization and engages young student's creativity through recycled art lessons, film & photography, community reporting, music and drama.

We intend to work with schools across Nigeria, having started with 8 public schools in Surulere local government area of Lagos state.

This project is educative, entertaining and socio-economical beneficial - teaching students’ practical business and life skills, and generating much-needed extra knowledge for schools and students involved in the project. Over 500 students now know and understand the importance of recycling and proper waste management, especially as helping to reduce waste produced within the school premises and helping them spark their creativity by introducing recycled arts and craft projects which have helped in reusing and reducing solid waste generated.

The project activities usually happens within 3 days in a particular school with focused activities handled by experts invited.

A typical WeSeparateWaste project event takes 3 days:

• Questionnaire is first administered to the school students and their staff members
• Public sensitisation in the school on proper waste management and recycling
• Debate on the environment, in which the winner emerges as the waste recycling ambassador
• Waste business workshop to empower students and teachers socio-economically
• Waste Rescue Club is set up for monitoring and evaluation, which also helps the school in sorting and recycling. The Waste Rescue Club members set aside a day, when they go about their school and immediate community to collect and sort recyclable waste into appropriate bins with students of the school, staff members and community members participating in the process.
• Sorted recycled materials collected from the school is sold to a recycling company like Wecyclers and profits is used to improve facilities in the school, buy books for the school's library or get learning kits for the waste rescue club.

Goal and purpose of the project:

The ultimate and long term goal of this project is in line with the 3rd, 6th and 12th goal of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs which is to protect the physical environment of all public schools in Lagos state and Nigeria from degradation and make it safe and healthy for our children and teachers by helping in waste management skills and creating more awareness and knowledge about the problems associated with waste production and disposal.

One of our main goals is to sort and collect 50,000 tonnes of waste for recycling in the schools visited and organise public space art and craft installations using waste materials.

One of the purposes of this project is to help young people get socio-economic empowerment by connecting and linking them to recycling entrepreneurs through after school programmes and training.

Other purpose(s) of the project includes:

1. To ensure students engage in waste sorting and recycling activities
2. To create value out of waste by reusing waste materials for art and craft
3. To spark conversations among young people in schools and extend it to their communities
4. Increase eco-consciousness by learning about proper waste management
5. Provide a positive forum in which students can be creative, innovative, and develop leadership skills through performing art, photography and community reporting
6. Inspire others by participating and planning World Earth Day and World Environment Day events, projects and competitions
7. Bring noted environmentalists to schools to inspire and educate peers about sustainability and waste management

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

The major factor motivating me to do this work is the fact that I want to make a positive impact and difference in my immediate environment and community, by making young students understand that waste challenges could be managed properly if we stop littering our environment and sort waste for recycling.

I chose to work with young students because I believe with them information is more sustainable for generations.

This project is needed at this time, because every day I walk on the streets of Lagos I see waste littered indiscriminately, most often the culprits are young people. Sometimes waste are disposed on the roadsides due to lack of collection from waste management authorities. Even in schools, waste is littered everywhere, causing irritating smell which ends up polluting the air and even causing diseases. It is common to find schools burning papers, since paper accounts for over 60% of waste generated in schools in Lagos. This causes serious air pollution, which is harmful, both to the health of the students and the environment, contributing to the damaging effects of climate change. I want to change this.

If the students are well informed about actions of improper waste disposal and its negative effects on their health and environment, I believe there will be a rapid decrease in waste generated in schools and communities. That's why this project is helping these young ones minimise their carbon footprints by reducing waste contributed to the environment. The project is helping them view waste differently.

Use of prize money:

• Sensitisation, publicity materials for the waste rescue club and community members
• Pamphlets and flyers in pidgin English and Yoruba
• Expansion to 15 more schools in at least three local government area of Lagos State
• Welfare for volunteers and honorarium for facilitators and (environmental) experts and art instructors
• Purchase of labelled waste recycling bins for 23 schools (old and new schools)
• Buy instructional materials and learning aids for the waste rescue club
• Projectors and screens to aid teaching and instruction in the club (23 schools)
• Buy disposable hand gloves and nose masks
• Construction of recyclable storage facility in 23 schools ( old and new schools)
• Publicity, promotion and T-shirt production
• Purchase of a fairly use after school van for community engagement and outing with the students