The effects of recycling

Greetings!

Our environment has always been a dumping site in the past, not because of anything else, but the way people use and dump things on the street after it's been made use of.

This practice of using and dumping was the only known thing in my neighbourhood until recently that the government kicked against it by preaching a greener environment where everyone is expected to make the environment clean. So, in the process, the government made a law backing this and not only this, they also made provisions in the collection of refuse from the various households which on their own part processed the one to be processed for another use. This has always been the system of the waste collection agency in my state.

But just of recent, this agency saddled with the collection in connection with an international organization came up with a seminar on recycling and it's in this seminar that took place in each of the wards that made up our local government that we the residents of the different community that were present at the seminar were sensitized on how to make our environment. Not only this, we were also taught about the recycling of our wastes, such as, plastic, paper, glass and even metal.

It's when I heard about this that I asked them how we can do this. The facilitators further told us that recycling of our waste is all about the reuse of those things that we thought are not useful again in another way. She said, take for instance, all those biscuit cartons that we used to dispose of at the refuse site can be reused. She said, some use it as their asbestos just to soften the heat that comes from the zinc, she also said, the soft drink bottle can also be used at our various homes for storage. She talked about glass and metals as well.

So, at the seminar, she asked us to go from house to house as their ambassador to spread the good news of recycling to others, telling us that our motto from then onward should be, “ nothing is a waste.” Indeed, from then I see nothing as a waste and this is because I have really made use of those items I used to consider as a waste to make money. Not only this, I have also turned those useless items to useful ones. This is really amazing to me.

Now, I now have a store where I used to keep my plastic bottles and when I might have gathered enough, I called on those people that buy and I sell it off, what of metals? I don't just dispose of it like before, I sell them off to the right buyers. Not quite long, I sold a leaked gas cylinder to those that would recycle it.

One day I went to one of my sisters selling provisions. On getting there I greeted her and she welcomed me. I went there with the aim of getting her cartons from her with the hope of selling it to the recyclers, but lo and behold, she too had heard about the recycling initiative that was brought to town by the international organization and she refused to give me free of charge, unless if I would pay for it.

Now, at home I now have plastic bottles which are enough to store things in the kitchen. I have plastic bottles for palm oil, vegetable oil, one for maggi, another for salt and for other items respectively. This has not only helped us to make money or have a new storage system in the house, but it's also helped in making the environment clean, reducing pollution of any kind and also helping the climate.

To be candid, recycling is the best way to go, and the stress of waste collection in my area has drastically reduced as a result of the recycling system that has been introduced to the community. Now, nothing is a waste.

This is my entry to week 160, Edition 02 in the weekly Featured contest in the Hive Learner's community.

Thanks for reading.

Pictures are mine.