In celebration of World Environment Day, the Danish Refugee Council, Mr Green Africa and Unilever organized an event at St. John Baptist Catholic Church Riruta.
All of this was done through the Fair Recycling Project organised by the three agencies. The aim of the event was to find solutions to plastic pollution in Kenya. #BeatPlasticPollution
In attendance were: the famous artist, Juliani, students from precious blood Riruta, representatives of the three organizations, a few waste pickers and a group of youths who offered entertainment to the audience.
The conversation was centred around reducing plastic pollution through recycling. Keynote speakers, Maurice Onzere, a representative from the Danish Refugee Council, Njoroge, a representative from Mr Green Africa and Juliani founder of Taka Bank, urged people to separate their waste from the home environment, making it easier for waste pickers to take them for recycling.
Alongside that, Fair Recycling Project started a plastic collection zone within the church compound. This zone was created with the intention of creating awareness among the people and making it easier for waste pickers when it comes to collecting.
In the midst of all this, the agencies have the aim to change the perception associated with waste pickers. This looks like assigning value to waste such that people no longer look at waste as something useless but is more inclined to care for it. The agencies have worked on changing the term waste pickers to something friendly that will reduce the stigma associated with people who collect waste.
They are looking to term them as suppliers as they supply the plastic waste that these agencies use to recycle and later sell to the public as a reformed substance.
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Additionally, the three companies have allied with refugees and Street people to aid in waste collection. In attendance was one refugee from Rwanda, who was once a street person but through waste picking has managed to get his life together and find a place to stay.
” We need to create a behaviour change around our relationship with waste. The problem is not that the waste exists, it’s what we associate it with, ” said Juliani in an interview with Switch Media
At the end of the day, the World Environment Day event was able to sensitize the youth on matters of plastic recycling. A new project was started at the Catholic Church and most of all, information about plastic recycling was passed on.
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