As I walk home with my three bags full of shopping, having just watched TV reports about climate change, I wonder if I will ever be able to play a part in helping save our planet. It feels like those causing these problems are only interested in making money. Environmental concerns are secondary but isn’t that the dame for all of us?
To the people who minimize the importance of protecting the environment, it is a zero-sum game between making money and protecting it. Like everybody else, I want to make money; I need to make money, but I also want to help save the planet.
My family shares my concern, and they, too, want to help. I was in a dilemma for a long time, wondering what to do to balance these two essential aspects of life. This was until I came across an option that could work.
Which option is this? You might ask. Our local Community Centre offered to accept my dry recycling (Paper, Cardboard and Plastic) and the entire neighbourhood. The center is part of a new initiative that helps Community Centers to raise money from dry recycling. This program sounded like a great idea from the first time I heard of it. It presents many benefits for me, my family, the community, and the environment.
This is how it works. Our Community Center has an arrangement with a waste-to-wealth recycling facility. It receives a 50% share of any revenues the wealth recycling facility generates from all dry recycling they collect.
The primary consideration for a Community Center’s eligibility is that the recycling should be sourced primarily from local families or businesses. The waste to wealth facility offers the services of its marketing team to help the Community Centre of the opportunity in its neighbourhood. The marketing team promotes the initiative by reaching local families and businesses using digital and social media.
Having been concerned about the health of our environment and our contribution to making it worse, I found this to be a great opportunity. I feel good knowing my dry recycling will be fully recycled and not end up in a landfill. This alone would have motivated me enough to participate, but more.
I get loyalty points based on how much dry recycling I send to the Community Centre. I can redeem the points towards goods that my family and I need at the sponsoring company’s online store. In addition, the Community Centre can use the 50% share of the revenues to support the local community better. So, in summary, I am helping to reduce carbon emissions, making money out of it while, at the same time, helping my community.
Besides the community centre getting more funding, the volunteers there, now have additional work to collect and manage the dry recycling delivered to the centre. The waste to wealth recycling facility trains them for this role. This means that they will have acquired additional skills during their time volunteering at the centre.
The facility provides information on recycling to more than just direct volunteers at the centre. They host zoom meetings where people can learn about recycling. I let my children join these meetings to learn from the presentations and ask any questions they might have. I can attest that the people who handle these meetings are pretty knowledgeable. Besides the online meetings, my children learn about recycling practically at home. The practical lessons occur as we separate dry recycling from the rest of the waste.
We have also noticed that there is now minimal waste volume in our bin. Dry recycling used to occupy 70% of our bin bags! Now, we only have small amounts of waste to think about. This simultaneously makes us realize how badly we were messing up the environment and joy that we are doing much better on that front.
I visited the waste to wealth company’s offices to see what they were about; the visit was inspiring. An outstanding team, with a genuine interest in the environment, runs the organization. Unlike some environmental conservationists, this team has gone ahead to add efficiency to its zeal.
They have a fully digitized system to record all the dry recycling collected. The system helps capture and maintain accurate records information, and your local Community Center will always get every coin you earned, through your dry recycling. You will also get every loyalty point you make as you deliver your waste.
Although my contribution may not be much, I know that every little bit makes a difference. It only requires every family's involvement to turn the environmental situation around. It is eye-watering to consider how much dry recycling is collected from families and how helpful the whole process is to the environment.
It’s only when you realize the volume of dry recycling we dispose of daily that the reality sinks in. We are throwing away money and destroying our environment while doing it. What a waste! With the volume of dry recycling from families, it’s easy to see how communities can generate cash to improve their quality of life through a better environment.
As you can see, there are so many benefits to this waste to wealth initiative. You will reduce the amount of waste in your house, which is an eyesore in any home. As a community-conscious person, you will be contributing to the welfare of your neighbourhood, bearing in mind the central role Community Centres play in society. You will also be contributing to the cleanliness of the environment.
With all these benefits in mind, I struggle to understand the drawbacks of such a scheme; there are simply none. It makes me wonder why more Community Centres and their local communities do not take advantage of this opportunity. It could make a transformative difference to our environment while everyone wins.
For more information on commencing with this initiative, please feel free to contact Fundwaste Limited. They can explain the process and what is needed to engage with the local area families and businesses.
