Waste management is a challenge in North Sulawesi, as there is no central system for picking up waste and recycling. Therefore, a lot of waste ends up on the street and is washed into rivers by the rain, eventually ending up in and polluting our oceans. There it is a threat to the wildlife, for example when they confuse a piece of Styrofoam with a fish egg and eat it, or when a piece of plastic gets stuck around the neck of a sea turtle.
In order to prevent this from happening, we would like to build a small community-recycling centre. This will have four major advantages:
A. Less waste ends up in the river and eventually the ocean, reducing the threat for marine life and reducing pollution of the oceans
B. We can collect enough waste to make it worthwhile for a recycling company to come to our centre and pick up the waste, and they will probably also pay a small amount per kg, helping us to pay for our daily operational costs
C. The people in the surroundings of our centre that will use the community recycling centre, will learn about the problems and (health) risks of waste for humans and wildlife and about the importance of proper waste management.
D. Some of the waste of which a lot is available, could possibly be used to recycle locally and for example be used to make new products from, such as bags, wallets or other (consumer) products, that can provide ‘green’ jobs and income for the local community.
Estimated costs: HKD 54,000
Estimated duration of construction: 3 months after funding is completed
Leave a Reply