I believe that sorting your trash is the first thing to do when recycling or reusing wastes. At home these wastes may include plastic bags, paper, glass or plastic bottles, cans and organic wastes. School waste is not so different however, the primary waste could be paper.

Unfortunately, in Kenya, waste is not sorted as it should be. The waste collected from businesses and homes is all taken to and thrown in dumpsites. One such dumpsite is the infamous Dandora dumpsite, a very heavily polluted area, hazardous to the life around it.

Nevertheless, this should not stop us from sorting our own trash. Braeside High School took on this initiative in the ?Bin the trash? campaign. The aim of the Campaign was to make sure that each student threw their trash in a bin and at the same time, sorted it by placing it in the different bins provided. The trash was to be correctly placed in bins, labelled ?plastics?, ?paper?, ?metal? and ?organic wastes?. Students were encouraged to throw their trash into their respective bins e.g. banana peels into the ?organic waste only? bin, soda cans into the ?metals only? bin, plastic soda bottles into the ?plastics only? bin etc. Through the effort of the Eco-School programme, the bins were availed at strategic locations.

The sorted paper can be used for fun paper mache activities, making collage and mosaic art work. In school, we also use plastic bottles to make art pieces like the Kenya map made with bottle tops in the photo below. We have also partnered with a business that recycles the paper into gift bags, and another recycles plastic bags into handbags and vikapus (traditional bags).

Furthermore, other businesses use wastes like cans to make new useful products and others collect organic wastes to make compost or feed pigs. Therefore, if your school does not have recycling plants, once collected and sorted, these wastes could be sold or donated to these businesses so that they are recycled or reused.

Let?s all play a part in KEEPING THE WORLD CLEAN by reusing and recycling these wastes. If they are carelessly thrown away, they pose a serious threat to the environment as well as the people and animals in it.