Edem Edem|25 December 2017
In recent times ‘Waste/Trash’ has been regular face of Calabar city, both bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste/trash has taken over streets and gutters in Calabar, although government has made several attempt in getting it right, but inadequate resources has also hampered its waste evacuation.
Concerned with the volume of waste/trash generated during and after 32 days of Calabar festival, which is usually caused by the indiscriminate dumping and disposal of waste/trash by both residents and visitors to the city. A quick review of the root cause of the menace is largely attributed to ignorance of proper education of waste management on the part of visitors and residents.
Prior and during the early years of Calabar festival, you will agree with me that the City of Calabar was known for its Cleanliness and Greenery, but in recent times the common sights has been waste dumps on every corner of the streets, as you know waste evacuation is capital intensive for the state government considering the current financial/economic reality.
Also, delay evacuation brings health challenges to the environment, while non-evacuated waste/trash find their ways into the drainages and water bodies, also, fumes from burnt waste emits dangerous chemicals that contribute to the impact of climate change.
In view of the above, EIS Recyclers in partnership with some environmental organizations is holding Waste Management Campaign tagged #BIGFUN LESSTRASH, with emphasis on the 3Rs concept (Reduce, Reduce and Recycling) as a strategy of reversing the indiscriminate waste disposal and slowing down the impact of climate change in Calabar and Cross River at large.
EIS Recyclers a social enterprise founded by Edem Edem, although in its start-up phase was among the first set of social entrepreurship ideas selected and awarded in 2015 by the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) and since the beginning of this year EIS Recyclers has been creating waste management awareness in schools and public places around the state capital.
The platform has also moved a step further from waste management education to providing alternative, by encouraging residents to sortout and kept aside recyclable waste/trash, provided collection bags and also undertake daily house-to-house pick-up.
Since the beginning of 2017, EIS Recyclers has been collecting recyclable waste from volunteer residents of Calabar, with the promise of rewarding them during the end of year through an event tagged #BigFunLessTrash.
The #BigFunLessTrash is an annual Fun Fair event of EIS Recyclers aimed at creating awareness on waste management among the residence and visitors to Calabar during the 32 days long Calabar Festival events as well as try as much as possible to collect recyclable waste that will be generated during the 32 days festival.
The activities lined up for 2017 are; cleanup, daily pick up from residents and Xmas village, waste walkout, light physical dance exercises, medical test/counseling, family fun games, waste management/climate change education and comedies.
The event will end with giving out of Gift items as reward for all donors that keyed and supported our waste recycling project for the past months. As well as educational materials as support items for under privileged kids (under our Waste for Education project)
With better support from the government, Calabar residents, private firms, the indiscriminate waste dumping narrative will be change.
EIS Recyclers wish to call for volunteers and partners, we will appreciate the participation of your team in all the planned activities as well as Donation and support of gift items, Educational materials, Waste bins, Light refreshment for participants, Printing of banners, Printing of waste education stickers, T-shirts, posters etc.
It is our believe that your partnership will improved your cooperate social responsibility and boost your environmental sustainability profile in the state and Nigeria at large.
The event is billed to commence on 1st to 31st December, 2017, while 27th December, 2017 is the day for awarding recyclers and educational materials to children in Calabar.
At EIS Recyclers we encourage residents to keep and donate the following items for us- waste plastic of all types including shopping bags/sachet water, empty drink cans/tins, metals, paper/cardboards, dead electronics and unused flex banner etc.
Edem Edem
Is CEO of EIS Recyclers
For further discussion, kindly contact the Campaign Director–
Edem +2348037114770 or follow us on our social media platform Email:eisnigeria15@gmail.com, – Facebook.www.facebook.com/eisrecyclers,
Twitter @eisnigeria15
