Beverage Container Recycling for Schools: A Grassroots Response to the extended Producers Responsibility and Consumer Products Stewardship Programme

Waste generators, both producers and consumers, can play vital roles in contributing to resource conservation and preventing potential environmental health problems by proper disposal of end-of-life products such as beverage containers. Indiscriminate disposal of beverage packages exacerbates the problem of clogged drainages, leading to flooding and contributing to climate change. To overcome this problem, an incentive-based awareness program was explored in the context of the manufacturers’ Extended Products Stewardship Programme. The awareness of stakeholders, especially teachers and students in six purposively selected public schools in Ibadan, was first actively raised, before the schools were challenged with recycling of pure water sachets (PWS) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Trained volunteers were assigned to each school to anchor environmental awareness talks for four consecutive weeks. A Travelon scale was used to weigh accrued waste before evacuation to Aleshinloye recycling facility, Ibadan. Data was entered into an Excel spreadsheet and analyzed with descriptive statistics. A total of 7,062 students participated in the program. A total of 499 kg and 465 kg of PWS and PET waste were accrued in the primary and secondary schools, respectively. In all, 76 creative products entered the creative challenge. Active participation in sorting and innovative reuse of PWS and PET was seen across schools and reinforced. There is a need to scale up incentive-based programs on beverage recycling as a means of promoting environmental sustainability.