Recycling Champions – Is yours one?

On April 9, The Alliance to end plastic waste put up a post that impressed me. Click the following link to view the clip: https://twitter.com/EndPlasticWaste/status/1380460685478477825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1380460685478477825%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FEndPlasticWaste2Fstatus2F1380460685478477825widget%3DTweet. The video is a story of three leading cities in the world doing all there is technologically possible to curb pollution and implement plastic waste management. This is a great step ahead as the world fights global warming and as states try to implement sustainable strategies to see us win the fight against pollution.

The Three Champions

San Francisco, US, Curitiba, Brazil, and Ljubljana, Slovenia have demonstrated responsibility and creativity in their waste management. These three have used both technology and innovation to devise ways through which their citizens will be motivated to practice proper waste management. Of the three, Ljubljana of Slovenia is the most exciting. The city has developed a modern plant for waste management. The plant processes waste for the nation and others too in the region. This means its influence crosses borders.

The technology is used to treat biological waste and has seen the place register a successful waste recycling practice. This is impressive and the way forward for other cities. The goal is to get to a 75% recycle rate for waste in the country. The deadline for this goal is 2025. The way things are going, the city will smash that target on time if it remains as focused as it is.

The other waste management champs!

Slovenia has proven machines (technology) can be leveraged to make waste management a success. On the other hand, others like San Francisco have used alternative waste management policies to make things work. For instance, you must separate your waste if you live in the Golden Gate City. There’s a recycling program that disciplines entities that do not undertake their waste segregation policy.

There’s a 200 sq. ft. recycling warehouse where all the recyclable products are put before being taken care of. By ensuring every citizen and business does its work, the wastes are already separated before it gets here. You won’t believe how much waste the warehouse processes in a day. A whole 45 tons of material is recycled within an hour. This is incredible! Imagine the amount of toxicity the people of San Francisco are saved from in just an hour. Say the plant was not present; this beautiful city would be rotting in plastic waste. That is why other cities need to try this. It would save them. They could leverage technology with innovations to make things work.

Curitiba, Brazil is another champion to emulate. Instead of type 1 and 2 punishment approaches taken by San Francisco for defaulters, this one rewards those that adhere to proper waste management practices. The policy awards them in a way that influences their lives. The waste management policy is a tool used to fight abject poverty and the food insecurity facing the country.

Your recyclables could be exchanged for transport tickets. This means using your waste to get bus tickets you can pay to go to work or run errands. This is enough motivation for people to adhere to waste management practices put in place to keep the country clean. You could also exchange the recyclable for books or buy food. This is so motivating and that is why the waste management policy in this place is working.

More innovation

The Alliance to end Plastic Waste continues to innovate ways to fight waste mismanagement. On April 8, 2021, the alliance announced another partnership with https://twitter.com/zeplaf?s=20 (The PLaf). The campaign sees plastic waste collected and turned to shelter kits. This is an innovative way to turn waste that would have harmful to the environment into products that can be used to create value. This value addition process happens in a warehouse innovated to do the waste-to-kits conversion.

The alliance: https://endplasticwaste.org/en/our-stories/changing-the-lives-of-the-waste-picker-community is moving the waste management agenda in the right direction. If only the world could take notice and joins hands to take this agenda further forward. For now, we will watch as the champions continue to set the pace and give direction in the fight against plastic waste. As we watch, we must learn and strive to take action.

 

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