A Lagos School – Morit International School, Ajegunle has reached an agreement with parents to pay their wards’ school fees in the form of plastic waste and bottles.
The agreement was made possible after the school adopted the RecyclesPay Education Project – an initiative of African Clean Up Initiative (ACI). ACI is an environmental non-governmental organisation in Lagos State.
More than 25 parents in the school pay their wards school fees by bringing in plastic wastes on designated days.
Wecyclers, the recycling company attached to the project, comes to collect the plastic bottles after getting a substantial amount of the plastic wastes. The amount given to parents are determined after weighing what each of them has brought.
Proprietor of the school, Patrick Mbamara, says the initiative help reduce the financial burden on parents
“It is helping to cushion the financial burden of parents in the school. We have a history of parents finding it difficult to pay each term school fees of N7,500,” he said.
“The money from the PET bottles is not much but it balances for what the parents can pay. My staff and I are happy with this initiative. It has improved parents’ payment of school fees and it teaches the children how to manage their waste and promote a cleaner environment.”
Chief Environmental Officer of ACI, Alex Akhigbe explains how it works. He said that a kilo of the sorted plastics goes for N20 to N25, while adding that little drops of money realised help make up for the balance of the school fees.
“PET bottles in the past were seen as waste but they are not anymore,” he said.
“Parents can raise money from collecting them and making them available to recyclers. They in turn convert them to other products usable by man.
“The recyclers weigh the plastic bottles and pen the kilogramme each parent brought. A kilogramme goes for N20 to N25 per kilo, depending on the recycler. If a parent comes with 10kilo, he or she will get N200 to N250. It looks like a huge effort is required. However, it’s a valuable to the environment and parents struggling to pay their children’s fees.
“Wecyclers come two times a week to collect the sorted waste from the parents. This is to encourage parents who do not have space in their homes to be storing the waste.”
The project, which kicked off last year, was first introduced to Morit International School, but more schools across the country will soon embrace it.
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