After two months of sensitization on plastic waste issues and personal protective equipment (PPE), the Building Climate Resilience in the Slums (BCRS) project team has successfully trained 30 youth and women in the Cockle Bay slum to recycle single-use plastic waste into ecobricks.
During the training, the trainees were provided with PPE for safety purposes. They were then instructed to dry the plastic waste they had collected by the project’s recycling educators. After that, they were taught to recycle plastic waste with sand to produce the bricks. In doing so, they started by weighing the plastic waste they had dried earlier and sand using a weighing scale. Next, they applied a local method to recycle the plastic and sand, producing ecobricks for construction purposes.
The participants were very excited about their experience during training, as they had never had a similar experience in their community, where plastic pollution has been a severe challenge over the years. Their participation demonstrates their commitment to addressing pressing issues in their community, one of the key pillars of the BCRS project. To honor their commitment to solving plastic pollution and flooding in their community through sustainable recycling, each participant will be awarded a certificate of participation by Route 360 Solutions Initiative. The certificate will increase their chances of securing green jobs, particularly in recycling or waste management.