The Green Campus Project launched at University of Ibadan

The Statewide Waste And Environmental Education Foundation (SWEEP Foundation) has partnered with Recycledge to launch the Green Campus Project at the University of Ibadan, Oyo state.

The project, funded by the CocaCola Foundation, is a campus recycling initiative programme which is aimed at creating awareness for university students on the menace of poor waste management and also plastic recovery from the school environment through the installation of bin receptacles.

During the launching at the Trenchard Hall in the university, on Wednesday, Obuesi Philips, executive director of SWEEP Foundation, said the project will promote recycling and address plastic waste pollution on campus.

He added that through the project, which is part of the World Without Waste campaign, the students will also recover PET bottles stored in waste receptacles at designated locations within the school campus.

Philips said the selected institutions for the project are the University of Ibadan, University of Benin, University of Port-Harcourt, Obafemi Awolowo University and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

He said the decision to begin the waste management initiate at the universities is to ensure that the behavioural change begins with the future leaders from where it is expected to spread to the society, especially to those at the grassroots.

“University campuses suffer from indiscriminate waste disposal habits of its staff and students, mostly occasioned by low-level awareness and inadequate infrastructures to support proper waste management across these campuses,” Philips said.

“Tertiary institutions as change agents in society play a central role in supporting students to forge more sustainable habits that are necessary to tackle plastic pollution. The Green Campus Project is therefore strategically positioned to lead the charge in these universities”.

Speaking at the event, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, director of public affairs at CocaCola, said the initiative is part of the sustainable development campaign to foster behavioral change across university campuses.

“Basically, we want to make sure that all the universities in Nigeria have a behavioural change on how they can package waste. Our aim is to make sure that all the bottles and cans are fully recovered in line with our targets of 100% recovery by 2030,” Onyemelukwe said.

“The university environment is one of such places where we want to lead behavioural changes among the youths so that when they come out to the larger society, they are able to incorporate it into their daily lives. The project is targeted to ensure that 100% of bottles and cans sold in this community are fully collected and recycled.

“We want to track the progress we have made. This is just the first launch. We are going to six other universities. Our target is also to ensure that about 1,000 tons of bottles are collected within a 12-month period and as well empower a target community of over 36,000 youths who will drive the behavioural change campaign.”

According to Kayode Adebowale, the vice-chancellor of the university, represented by Ezekiel Ayoola, the deputy vice-chancellor administration, the project is a welcome development in the institution.