Two friends, Ani and Ala of Charentsavan, Armenia did let anyone or anything get in the way of making an impact! They launched their own initiative, called Eco-Future, and as part of the initiative, they challenged each other for 14 days and started sorting waste at home from scratch. They documented and shared the challenge through Instagram posts and stories.
Through doing the challenging they learned and observed a few things. Ani and Ala said, their classmates and friends at first were not really interested in the topics of waste and climate change, and some even accused the girls of doing it only as part of a "trend". But eventually, people started to take the girls' project and the larger issue more seriously.
Ani and Ala also saw firsthand the impact of being sharing information through digital technologies. "The important thing is to keep communicating. We need to spread awareness on how things should be done. "
Most importantly, Ani and Ala understood that “The solution has to start from people because people are the cause to this problem.” They now actively try to buy recycled items use eco-bags and reduce food waste.
The girls believe that no step toward helping the planet is too small, "The volume of trash that we produce is already out of control. The fact that we have started sorting waste may be considered a tiny step, but these small steps help us to find solutions."
Following this initiative, Ani and Ala decided to take matters in their community into their own hands. There are 24 waste processing companies in Armenia but not one waste sorting bin in their community, and so they applied to the municipality and demand that a waste collection point is built in Charentsavan. They have already sent the appeal and are waiting for an answer.
Read more about Ani and Ala's initiative and experience: https://www.unicef.org/armenia/en/stories/how-build-eco-friendly-future-14-days