Refuse disposal has become a huge environmental problem in developing countries such as Nigeria. The amount of health hazards, traffic congestion, unsightliness, as well as general unpleasantness, has continued to pile up due to the lack of efficient waste management practices in Nigeria, especially in some parts of Kaduna State.

The Environmental Sanitation (War Against Refuse) Project was created to help clean up refuse disposed in the wrong places and to create awareness on the dangers of poor disposal of refuse.

YES Program Coordinator for Iowa Resource for International Service and Dr. Saidu Yakubu, National YES Program Coordinator in Nigeria, along with both alumni and non-alumni participated in the event. The YES Alumni Association provided rakes, shovels, brooms, a refuse van, and other sanitation equipment in order to make the work easier and faster. Participants helped remove the non-biodegradable substances from the street side to be turned into refuse. In addition to removing and sorting all of the refuse, YES students worked incredibly hard to remove anything that was stuck to the ground. Once all the work was done, the refuse van carried away all the substances to the proper place for the refuse to be taken and disposed.

A YES alumna, Aisha Waziri said, ”I decided to participate in the ‘Environmental Sanitation project’ because I felt it is my duty and responsibility to make change in my community. Dumping of garbage anyhow/anywhere is very dangerous for many innocent children in our community. It causes disease, it blocks drainage systems, and it brings about pollution. A lot of kids play very close to these refuse dumps and they get diseases which are usually very expensive to cure. Some people dump garbage anywhere because they don’t know the negative effect of what they are doing, so I felt creating awareness about the dangers of dumping garbage anywhere will save many lives”.

The Kaduna YES Alumni were able to create awareness on the dangers of poor disposal of refuse by cleaning up in the major areas in the state that are suffering the most. Participants of the event think that if more effort is put towards proper disposal, then it will go a long way in reducing diseases, as well as bad drainage systems and floods in the state.

Original story published in the IRIS blog.