A GROUP of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) student volunteers will be engaging a community in the historic water village this month, to get them to start recycling with the incentive of noodles, rice and other commodities in exchange.
Dubbed the Brunei-Singapore Green Xchange Project, the one-day event on September 25 will see members of the Student Community Outreach Team (SCOT) and the UBD Volunteering and Charity Club (UVC) going around Kg Bolkiah A and Kg Bolkiah B of Kampong Ayer to collect recyclable materials from the residents there.
Campaigns to raise awareness on the Green Xchange Project were held last month, when the residents were told to collect any paper, plastic and aluminium cans they had in the house. The recyclable materials provided to the volunteers would then earn the families “exchange points”, which they could trade for commodities such as rice and noodles.
The idea was adopted by a similar drive carried out in Singapore (thus, the island-state’s name in the project), but that was mainly to promote recycling, Noor Amal Azirah Azlan and Khairunnisa Ash’ari of SCOT told The Brunei Times yesterday.
The Green Xchange was an initiative by a Singaporean environmental non-government organisationAvelife-Sembcorp aimed at promoting recycling in the city-state.
“The project will involve encouraging heartland residents to exchange recyclable items (bottles, plastics and paper) for vouchers exchangeable for staple foods such as rice, vegetables, cooking oil or sugar,” said Avelife on its website.
For the Brunei project, SCOT wanted to “kill two birds with one stone” by promoting recycling while giving the residents of Kg Bolkiah A and Kg Bolkiah B, who were mostly fire victims, an avenue to improve their lives. This was part of SCOT’s mission to eradicate poverty in the Sultanate.
“We want to inculcate the habit of recycling while also helping the less fortunate,” Noor Amal Azirahsaid.
“SCOT is focused on eradicating poverty through green initiatives. We want to show them (the community) that their trash has value (if they recycle it).”
Kg Bolkiah A and Kg Bolkiah B will be the first two villages that SCOT will be working with as the one-day event will be the team’s pilot project.
“We hope the project will spread,” Noor Amal Azirah said.
“Recycling rates in Brunei are low. We hope Brunei can become more green through this initiative.”
Source: The Brunei Times
Authors: Ubaidillah Masli and Sally Piri
Published Date: 9 September 2011
