Role of youth in achieving zero waste: Opportunities and challenges

 The youth bulge that constitutes almost a quarter of the total population has a huge role to play in advocating for systemic change including achieving zero waste – Pix by Shehan Gunasekara 

Promoting youthcentric discourses on waste management has the potential to drive young people to view waste more than just trash. The National Waste Management Policy aims at making all the citizens and institutions legally responsible to engage in waste management activities as generators based on the degree of their involvement. While this policy spells out laudable objectives, the exclusion of young people in promoting sustainable waste management practices is a sad manifestation of how youth perceptions and experiences continue to get sidelined

By Dishani Senaratne 

Climate change is unarguably one of the most critical global challenges of our time. The impacts of human-induced climate change range from accelerated sea level rise, extreme heat events, changes in rainfall, to species extinction. Compounding matters further, rapidly increasing climate change poses a threat to mental health and psychosocial wellbeing as well.

What is the nexus between climate change and the global waste problem? A 2021 study published by the Kleinman Center for Energy Politics at the University of Pennsylvania highlighted that the production of petrochemicals (chemical products derived from petroleum such as plastics, soaps and detergents) is rarely viewed as a continuing source of carbon emissions because much of the carbon from the fossil fuel feedstock is trapped within the petrochemical products. This report further stated that once disposed of such highly stable plastic products contribute to perhaps the greatest environmental catastrophe following climate change: the global plastic waste crisis. Plastic waste is typically incinerated which in turn releases the carbon from plastics. Climate change, therefore, is deeply intertwined with the global waste issue.

In response to ever-increasing catastrophic effects of climate change, climate activist Greta Thunberg staged a lone protest outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, under the banner of ‘School Strike for Climate.’ Greta’s protest slowly but steadily snowballed into a global youth movement demanding action for climate change so that the needs of future generations will not be compromised.

In the Sri Lankan context, everyday discourses on climate change are still conditioned by the erroneous belief that climate action need not become the need of the hour as the country is not a major contributor to climate change. In reality, Sri Lanka is already experiencing the consequences of climate change partly because it is a global issue. The temperature rise is just one grim reminder of how Sri Lanka has not been spared from being vulnerable to climate change. Even though the Sri Lankan youth are generally aware of climate change, the majority neither have technical understanding nor in-depth knowledge of the topic while it is seen as a crisis looming in the distance, a 2021 British Council report titled Young People on Climate Change: A Perception Survey revealed. This is perhaps why the global youth-led fight against climate change is yet to gain momentum in the Sri Lankan context. On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s legacies of violence may have resulted in environmental issues taking a backseat to other problems.

In line with the 12th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targeting responsible consumption and production, a zero-waste approach has the potential to mitigate climate change. Contrary to popular belief, zero waste goes beyond reducing, reusing and recycling. In a broad sense, zero waste can be defined as designing and managing products and processes systematically to avoid and eliminate the waste materials and to conserve and recover all resources from waste streams, according to the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA).  

Youth should be key stakeholders in the decision- making processes at national-level in building a climate-resilient future partly because young people will have to face consequences of today’s decisions. Therefore, it is imperative to set up and promote state mechanisms for youth engagement for climate action to represent their voices, experiences and perceptions of climate-related issues

Youth commitment to sustainable waste management practices

How is zero waste practised among the youth in Sri Lanka? Standing as a recent testament to youth commitment to sustainable waste management practices, GotaGoGama (GGG) at the Galle Face Green in Colombo, the epicentre of youth-led Aragalaya (struggle) housed since its inception a PET bottle collection point for recycling. This episode is illustrative of how young people take the lead in shaping and promoting behaviour change towards waste even during volatile times like a protest movement. Typically, youth are often seen playing a central role in community clean-up campaigns and disaster relief services. Evolving from such sporadic initiatives to long-term solutions, youth interest in waste entrepreneurship has gained momentum in recent times. 

In the aftermath of the 2018 collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump, Marc Perera launched Eco Friends, having identified a gap in the existing waste management process that is less people-friendly. “Eco Friends collects waste on a weekly basis, having notified users in advance. Afterwards, collected waste is taken to their respective sorting facilities and further segregated after which it is redistributed for recycling,” Marc explained how the mobile platform Eco Friends facilitates a sustainable waste management solution for the end-user. Without doubt, Eco Friends is a good example of an innovative and sustainable business solution that amalgamates digital technology with waste management.   

Marrying artistic interventions with zero waste campaigns is an ideal vehicle for inspiring change and offering a vision of an environmentally-friendly world. The artists who use waste or recycled materials often bring to life the impact of waste on the environment in order to reimagine the future and build solidarity across the world. Redefining their mediums, this global phenomenon is indicative of how contemporary artists have become agents of change in response to climate change.

Erandathi Damunupola is an artist who has held exhibitions, in addition to having published two adult colouring books titled Liyapatha and Liyawela featuring traditional Sri Lankan designs. With the outbreak of the pandemic, Erandathi dabbled in using household waste such as packing materials to create artistic work simply to derive enjoyment. Soon, her children also got involved and it became a great stress-relief collaborative activity for her family while being confined indoors during intermittent lockdowns. She also posted several videos featuring her foray into waste art on her social media. Even though the response has been quite welcoming, Erandathi is sceptical about venturing into commercial-scale waste art partly because creative works made from “discarded materials” cater to a niche market.  

Echoing these views Fariha Fatima, a Member of Zero Waste Ladakh (a registered non-profit working together with the local communities to address the problem of waste in Northern India) and Zero Waste Himalaya Peer Educator (ZWH, a movement addressing the problem of waste in the Himalayan region), pointed out how her toiletry collection Zero Waste Elixir that promotes a low carbon lifestyle is faced with the challenge of attracting customers besides her family and friends. Regrettably, a great proportion of consumers across the globe still shy away from making choices that have less harmful effects on the environment that in turn hinder the growth of green enterprises.

Going beyond such initiatives, youth should be key stakeholders in the decision-making processes at national-level in building a climate-resilient future partly because young people will have to face consequences of today’s decisions. Therefore, it is imperative to set up and promote state mechanisms for youth engagement for climate action to represent their voices, experiences and perceptions of climate-related issues.

At the recently concluded COP-27 UN Climate Summit held in Egypt, President Ranil Wickremesinghe proposed to establish an International Climate Change University in Sri Lanka, with an ancillary institution in the Maldives. The proposed university is envisaged to become a hub for climate research, if it is ever materialised. However, state authorities should not lose sight of the importance of mobilisation of youth to take the lead in becoming a partner for climate action.

More recently, Ruwan Wijewardene was appointed as a Presidential Advisor on Climate Change. Not only that, Erik Solheim, who spearheaded an international peace process in Sri Lanka, was appointed as President’s International Climate Advisor. In addition, since 2018, the Climate Change Secretariat (CCS) has been providing a platform to address climate change issues at national-level. While numerous state mechanisms and individuals may contribute to the overarching objective of mitigating climate change, it’s imperative to avoid duplication of efforts by maintaining coordination, coherence and collaboration among them.  

In this age of information and technology, social media plays a huge role in giving agency to amplify youth voices. Nonetheless, virtual discussions of waste must be preceded by a caveat on evidence and facts as social networks are replete with climate change disinformation. Social media, therefore, has been touted as a double-edged sword for its both positive and negative use and effects

Youth perceptions and experiences continue to get sidelined

Promoting youth-centric discourses on waste management has the potential to drive young people to view waste more than just trash. The National Waste Management Policy aims at making all the citizens and institutions legally responsible to engage in waste management activities as generators based on the degree of their involvement. While this policy spells out laudable objectives, the exclusion of young people in promoting sustainable waste management practices is a sad manifestation of how youth perceptions and experiences continue to get sidelined.

On a positive note, the Global Youth Forum on Climate Change is an annual event organised by SLYCAN Trust (a non-profit think tank working on climate change based in Sri Lanka) that brings together youth across the world to share their knowledge and propose ideas and solutions to issues related to climate change. Ideally, Sri Lanka’s National Youth Parliament should act as one of many platforms for empowering youth and strengthening youth engagement for climate action, a 2020 SLYCAN Trust Policy Brief titled Youth Engagement in Climate Change Adaptation stated.

Inspired by the model followed by humanitarian service organisations like the Rotary International, ZeroPlastic Movement of Sri Lanka aims at bringing about behavioural changes among people to reduce plastic waste while creating a demand for plastic substitutes produced by local entrepreneurs. “ZeroPlastic Clubs have been set up in state and private universities across the country to achieve this purpose and plans are afoot to expand to the school-level,” Nishshanka De Silva, the Founder of ZeroPlastic Movement of Sri Lanka explained how youth energy is tapped into at tertiary-level to raise awareness on responsible use of plastic and other related concepts.

Close to home, the Himalayan Cleanup initiated by Zero Waste Himalaya (ZWH) and Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) is a good example of young people taking the leading role in addressing the issue of waste in the mountainous Indian Himalayan region. In addition, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Zero Waste Youth Network based in the Philippines serves as a focal point to bring together young people as agents of change for climate action. All three above mentioned movements are largely run by youth volunteers/organisations that speak volumes about how young people across the world take the initiative to solve the problem of plastic waste in their own capacities. 

Taking action to combat climate change, however, is not without its share of challenges. According to the previously mentioned 2021 British Council report, a great number of Sri Lankan youth are occupied in the pursuit of education and vocational training, among other family and work commitments, leading to a lack of time to engage in voluntary activities or other extracurricular activities. Most youth, on the other hand, are interested in exploring conventional career paths, aspiring for a perceived safe and promising future. 

“I would encourage young people to consider a career in waste management,” Preeti Chauhan, the Founder of Little Green World and Navikru Eco Foundation (initiatives based in India focusing on raising awareness and providing sustainable alternatives to adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle) stated. Speaking of her own shift to social entrepreneurship from civil engineering, Preeti added that it’s high time the narrative of waste as a career option was promoted.

In this age of information and technology, social media plays a huge role in giving agency to amplify youth voices. Nonetheless, virtual discussions of waste must be preceded by a caveat on evidence and facts as social networks are replete with climate change disinformation. Social media, therefore, has been touted as a double-edged sword for its both positive and negative use and effects.

Another widespread but less-discussed issue is language barriers in climate communication. “There is definitely a lack of information available in Nepali [in the state of West Bengal in India],” Abishek Pradhan, a Zero Waste Himalaya (ZWH) Peer Educator based in Darjeeling observed. In West Bengal, Nepali is declared a co-official language in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts while Bengali is the official language of the state. Sadly, West Bengal is not alone to witness the sidelining of minority languages. Sri Lanka is a textbook case of how language issues paved the way for a civil war, leaving legacies of violence and conflict. Even though language is perceived as an unlikely obstacle to fight climate change, the messages should be conveyed clearly to a wider audience, not exclusively to speakers of majority/international languages.

At the corporate level, certain companies and organisations are said to be engaged in greenwashing, making their products and services appear environmentally sustainable, but in reality their business practices aren’t. Coca-Cola’s controversy-ridden role as a sponsor for the recently concluded COP-27 UN Climate Summit held in Egypt is a case in point. While exploring solutions for zero waste, the youth need to identify such pitfalls that exist on that path. 

In her 2013 US best-selling book Zero-Waste Home, Bea Johnson outlines how she adopted a zero-waste approach after her partner left his job to set up a sustainability consulting company. This brings out how women across the globe are generally expected to perform household responsibilities, including segregation of waste. A zero-waste approach, therefore, should not be viewed as an exclusive female responsibility to ensure that women are not further pressured to make their homes “beautiful and immaculate.”

To conclude, plastic pollution is a structural problem which requires structural answers and a concerted effort is imperative to address this global issue. Identification of the intersections between global climate action and a comprehensive global policy to end plastic pollution will be a step taken in the right direction to better address this greatest threat the world has ever faced. Amid the economic crisis facing Sri Lanka, the youth bulge that constitutes almost a quarter of the total population has a huge role to play in advocating for systemic change including achieving zero waste.