World Environment Day: Bramble Network commissions plastic bottle classroom

In commemoration of the 2022 World Environment Day, a leading alternative learning centre, Bramble network has commissioned a plastic bottle-erected block of classroom and library in its learning centre.

The event which took place on Sunday, 5th June 2022, at the Bramble learning centre in Arikanki village in Akinyele local government area of Oyo State, had in attendance, stakeholders, who are parents, learners, missionaries and community members.

Speaking with Tribune Online, the founder and the head of Bramble Network, Odunayo Aliu, expressed her delight in the success of the project, describing it as a dream come true, considering the challenges the learning centre has faced since the conception of the project in 2019.

While explaining on the choice of plastic bottles, Aliu said: “aside from this bottle classroom, we also built with laterites. As an alternative learning centre, we are trying to put different elements of creativity in the space so that when the children and anybody that comes to our compound, interact with these things, they can get inspired.

“Also, we are very environmentally conscious. We want to raise eco-conscious children that know the importance of the environment. Seeing what we did with bottles, they will also take further actions to help the environment.”

Describing the building, Aliu explained that the building has a classroom, a library, and an early learning centre. Giving details about the construction, she said, “We launched a campaign on June 5, 2019, to gather 100,000 bottles to build two blocks of a classroom, but we built this building with 5000 bottles.

“We mixed eco-bricks, which are bottle bricks, with laterite bricks which are also 100 under per cent health-friendly. We intend to erect the next building with only plastic bottles as we mixed this because we wanted to see a fusion of the two.”

While decrying the act of deforestation, Aliu lamented how Arikanki villagers fall trees for sale at ridiculous prices, which portends a threat to the environment.

“The older people in this village fall trees for financial wherewithal. They sell a palm tree for N500 and a cherry tree for N1000.

“We have a quarterly awareness programme on afforestation, where we tell them how the economic benefits of these trees outweigh this small money they get. We have a nursery which provides anyone with the privilege to come for the seedlings of any tree they intend to plant. Arikanki village is actually known to be the largest producer of cherries and oranges. We talk to the host community and we have started seeing changes in them,” she said.

Two of the students, Paul ThankGod and Ola Elizabeth, expressed their joy for the completion of the project and explained how they filled the bottles with clay.

Commissioning the facility, a member of the management board of the learning space, Rev Samson Agboaye, commended the project, and described it as a creative one which would help in reducing environmental pollution.

Also advocating afforestation, Agboaye suggests that schools should create tree planting clubs among learners and also replace the fallen tree with five to seven new ones.

He said: “The culture of tree planting has gotten eroded among our parents. They love cutting trees because they have a need for it but replacing the trees is no longer their culture. Thankfully, the children are coming up now with this culture, and they have to be practically built in there to know how to practically go and plant trees.

“If clubs can be formed among these children, and there are gifts given to children who plant trees, others will be motivated and before we know it, the tree planting culture will be totally resuscitated.”

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