Recycling and caring for the environment will ensure that we have a better and lasting world for our children and future generations to come.
More than 800 000 of the children who are out of school in Côte d'Ivoire come from households living in poverty. To meet these challenges, UNICEF has set its sights on a bold objective: transform all plastic waste into building materials for classrooms. Conceptos Plasticos, a Colombian social enterprise, has developed a technique to make bricks out of non-PVC plastics that are cheaper, lighter and more durable than conventional bricks.
Africa’s first recycled plastic classroom was built earlier this year in Gonzagueville (Côte d'Ivoire), and classes will start this month. It was built in just five days – a stark contrast to the nine months and extensive training it takes to build a classroom using traditional construction methods.
A quality education could help children break the cycle of poverty by opening the gateway to new job opportunities. In addition, there are simply not enough schools, so classrooms are overcrowded, with an average class at double to triple capacity for low-income students.
Let us teach our children to recycle, here is how:
Have a discussion. It is important to have a conversation with your children about what items in your house are made out of and what happens to those items when they are no longer being used. ...
Start an experiment. Choose a spot in your garden or fill a large plant pot with soil. Divide the soil into several sections. Then bury items in the separate sections. Fill one with an organic item such as fruit peels, egg shells or a mix. In other sections, bury a piece of metal or foil, a piece of glass, paper and a piece of plastic. Then cover with soil and water the soil. A few weeks later, dig up the items and let the kids evaluate them.
Experiment Results. Depending on how long you left the items buried, you should see change in the organic matter and paper.
Reduce. The trick is to avoid using single-use plastic and to cut it out completely where possible. Go through your house with your children and see where you can make changes. You could use reusable Tupperware instead of sandwich bags, buy some metal straws or purchase a canvas bag for your shopping instead of using plastic ones.
Reuse. Another way to reduce and reuse is to buy items intended for reuse such as rechargeable batteries.
Recycle. The children can then sort through the items you want to recycle and put them in the correct bins. Some items, such as jars, may have parts that need to go into separate bins. The jars would be recycled with the glass, whereas the lid will be recycled with metal.
Waste removal. Alternatively, you can arrange for recycling companies to come collect the materials themselves.