Article by Nityashri Sankaran, Grade 11, Delhi Private school Sharjah

I wish to share my project which started as a spark and has achieved a sizeable target in 2.5 years and could possibly inspire other eco warriors to appreciate that every bit of contribution does count.

I have been recycling for several years now through the Emirates Environment Group in the UAE and have built a small community of corporates and friends from whom I collect papers and plastic regularly. A friend of mine once asked if I was selling them and making money and why I come every month to collect? And this sparked in me an idea of trying to do the same. The Recycle for charity project involves simple selling of papers for money and using the funds to plant saplings and pay for educational support.

I researched to find out the companies who buy paper and pay money in return and also recycle the paper. I found a waste management company in Dubai who makes recycled paper and when I explained my project, they were very co-operative and I signed up an agreement with them to pay me 0.45 fils per kilogram. Since April 15, 2017 my project has been on with them and as of today, I have recycled about 16,950 kgs of paper with them which translate as below:

Ref - 1000 kgs saves 17 trees, 380 gallons oil, 3 cubic yards, 7000 gallons water and 4000 kw energy (https://www.recyclingbin.com/Recycling-Facts)

I have collected about AED 7,500 through recycling and have donated them as below:

·   1. Donated for Farmers Fruit sapling plantation (300 fruit saplings plantations and maintenance costs after one year) through the NGO SayTrees in India, where the saplings increase the green cover and also give them a source of income (SayTrees plants saplings and supports them to become trees. SayTrees create urban and rural forests , support farmers with fruit trees, rejuvenate lakes and water bodies and install solar lamps in villages website - https://saytrees.org)

2. 2.Donated for Children’s education through Dubai Cares, Emirates red crescent initiatives and Manzil Special Needs Centre in Sharjah.

M My Project community report published in Gulf news and Gulf today helped me spread awareness and a few readers reached me through facebook and have since been contributing papers for me. The project for neighborhood recycling was an initiative started at home without any budget.

The Multiple benefits achieved in addition to the direct impact on environment are:

•          Reducing waste paper to landfill by recycling – and making recycled paper with it through the Company

•     Involving a network of community and friends who also practise recycling for the project

•          Using waste paper as a resource to generate fund which in turn is used to plant saplings in India with farmers – increasing green cover and providing sustainable income

•         Using waste paper as a resource to generate funds which are given for charity causes like childrens education who are the future

•          Spreading awareness through media – by publishing article in Gulf news, Gulf today, video on facebook etc. to motivate other children to recycle as well

 The challenge remains to continue exploring the sources for paper and the effort of carrying them from source to the deposit and time and transport management with academic pressures. However, I am pursuing the project through my high school as much as I can and want to spread awareness and try and involve more children to do so.