The students of the Goguikian Foundation continue their community development project: Ready, Set, Recycle! Which was launched on October 12, 2013 with the sponsorship of Creditbank. The project is an environmental one looking at means of raising environmental awareness among school-aged children, and adults, through local social aid institutions, as wells as actual recycling of paper, plastic and cans. The idea started more than a year ago, when the second generation of the Jean Goguikian scholarship recipients was taking a project management class as part of their capacity building training with the idea of writing a project which would give back to the community.
The Foundation partnered with the Municipality of Bourj Hammoud, the Ministry of the Environment and Arcenciel, and kicked off a recycling project that received waves of appreciation and coverage from the national print, audio and visual media, in English, Arabic, French and Armenian languages.
As the implementation phase started, the students had to regroup themselves to meet the current needs of the project. Thus two main committees were formed, that constitute the two main wings of the project: Awareness and Recycling. The former is responsible for spreading awareness about the environment and the positive aspects of recycling, while the latter is in charge of the actual recycling process.
“Knowledge is power” said Vicky Kendirjian, the head of the Awareness Committee. “We aim to spread awareness and to educate our public. The more they are aware of the environmental hazards of waste and the positive aspect of reducing, reusing and recycling, the more committed they are to the preservation of the environment. An informed citizen is our best ally”. The members of the committee are visiting schools and giving awareness sessions to students of the elementary and secondary divisions, as well as to adults in local Armenian NGOs.
When it comes to the recycling, Melkon Eleydjian is in charge. As the head of the recycling committee he explained: “We take care of the logistics and operational aspect of the work. We are committed to serving the needs of our partners and make sure everything needed is delivered at the right time and that recycling pick up schedules are kept in order”. The recycling boxes that the committee distributed among schools and restaurants are of 3 types, each having a distinct tag: Plastic, Paper and Aluminum Cans.