How Plastic Bottles Are Paying For School In Nigeria

A school in Nigeria is accepting plastic bottles in lieu of school fees from parents. African Clean Up Initiative and WeCyclers are two organisations working with Morit International School in Ajegunle, Lagos, for the project, reports BBC. The Recycle Pay project allows parents to use plastic waste as currency to pay their children's school fees. The twofold positive impact of this scheme? Families save money while reducing plastic pollution and cleaning up the city in the process.

The process for the Recycle Pay project is simple: Parents can bring a bag of plastic waste to a facility where it is weighed. The weight is then converted into a monetary value, which can be deducted from the amount owed as fees to the school. The collected waste is taken away by a recycling company twice a month.

"I struggle to pay for school fees, sometimes I pay half the price and later pay the remaining balance," parent Sherifat Okunowo explained in an interview to BBC. "But with the introduction of this project, the plastic has made it easy for me to pay school fees."

"This project that is going on right now, I think is very, very good," another parent, Jane Enyinnaya, confirms. "It has really reduced the burden on parents."

The school's principal echoes this sentiment. "It has really reduced the burden on parents," he says. "We now collect fees faster-the school wins, the children win, the parents win, everybody wins."

According to My Modern Met, the Ajegunle district in Lagos has three million residents, making it one of the most densely populated slums in the county. The Recycle Pay project has not only helped clean up the area, it has also made access to education easier.