Start where people already are
Our instinct was to begin with the science of plastic: the types, the timelines, the harm. Our volunteers began somewhere else — with what they see in their own streets, drains, and markets every day.
That turned out to be the better starting point. People already have a diagnosis. What they often lack is a practical next step that does not make them feel foolish.
The bin is not the hard part. The conversation at the bin is the hard part.
— A volunteer at the training
The bin is not the hard part
Every participant could name someone who would resist separating waste. A neighbour who says it does not matter. A landlord who will not pay for a second bin. A market that has nowhere to put anything sorted.
So the training shifted from “why recycle” to “how do you answer the person who says it does not matter, without lecturing them?” That is a harder skill, and it is the one our volunteers will actually use.
What happens next
The first volunteers will run short sessions in two churches and a school before the end of the year. We will report what worked — including what did not — rather than waiting for a tidy success story.
