By Adeola Ogunlade
SWEEP Foundation, Recycledge with support from The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF), has launched their ‘Green Campus Project,’ designed to facilitate the implementation of a comprehensive waste management programme at the University of Ibadan and other selected university campuses in Nigeria.
The Green Campus Project was flagged recently at the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan. It brought together students, civil society groups, corporate businesses, government agencies, members of the university communities and other stakeholders. It feature seminar, interactive session and donation of plastic waste collection assets and infrastructure including cargo tricycle, receptacles and PPE equipment for the university environment.
Speaking at the event, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration of the University of Ibadan Professor Ezekiel Ayoola lauded the initiatives, said that the university appreciate all the organisations involved in this project and more importantly the Student Union Government of the school, who facilitated the project, which will no doubt would help to make the campus cleaner and enhance the beauty of the campus.
“It is an example of the Town and gown relationship. Government cannot provide all what we need in the university. Town, unions, and organizations have a lots of role to play and this is an example and we are very grateful”, he said.
In his words, the President, SWEEP Foundation, Amb. Phillips Obuesi, reiterated the impact of the programme on the selected universities and surrounding communities saying, “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. 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”.
He said that the pilot phase of this project will collaborate with selected higher educational institutions in Nigeria. The project will provide waste and environmental education, establish university campus community drop-off points and recycling hubs, while simultaneously providing an additional income stream for the campus community youth who participate in the program. The implementation of this waste reduction scheme will facilitate the deployment of key infrastructures and mobile collection receptacles across participating institutions in the country. Overall, this program will help accelerate and improve collection of discarded plastic bottles (PET) leveraging targeted awareness programs on campus community recycling.
“The Green Campus Project is schedule to flag off in the following universities- University of Ibadan, University of Benin, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, University of Port-Harcourt and Obafemi Awolowo University. And will focus on galvanizing support for more sustainable means of dealing with packaging waste through cost effective aggregation models. It also aspires to eliminate waste incineration, a common practice in many institutions in Nigeria”.
Obuesi added “we are providing a behavioral change education for the university community, particularly the students within and outside the campus. We are hoping to recover wastes and other recycle wastes (1000 tons) that litters the environment. We want to ensure that our environment is clean, green and sustainable”.
Speaking on this project, the President of The Coca-Cola Foundation, Saadia Madsbjerg, said, “we recognize that student communities are critical stakeholders in our broad strategy to preserve and protect our ecosystem. We are proud to support this initiative which will not only improve the waste value chain of Campuses in Nigeria but will also help inspire an entire generation of environmental advocates”.
Also, The Director, Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability, Coco-Cola Nigeria Limited, Amaka Onyemulukwe said that today is significant to us as a business. Not because of our commercial footprint in this historical city, but because of the hope that this initiative brings to youth and communities across the country”.
“We understand how important it is to protect and preserve our natural ecosystem resources through intentional sustainable action, which we must all commit to, and that is why this initiative, the Green Campus Project, funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation, is being launched today in Nigeria’s premier University”.
“We are proud to flag off this program here, to advance our efforts towards environmental sustainability and along with this objective, also, facilitate wealth creation for our youth, leveraging our under-utilized waste value chain”.
She continued:: “The Green Campus Project connects fundamentally with two of our critical success levers and sustainability priority points which focus on supporting ecosystem resilience through proper packaging waste management and building socio-economic resilience through economic empowerment activation in local communities. We do hope that youth in and around Ibadan will adequately benefit from it”.
“In the next few weeks, we will roll out The Green Campus Project in more campuses, expanding hopefully, what will not only be a revolutionary approach to community waste management, but also a trigger to socio-economic recovery across Nigeria. We hope that our partnership approach will further stir the required collective action that will bring the desired improvement we all want to see”.