Recycle: an action that will help the environment


There are a lot of changes that I would like to make in my community. For instance, I would like to have the possibility to improve the service of sports and activities of my city and I would like to make the access to public transportation easier. I believe that as a young leader, I can make changes by being more aware of the problems that a community can have. I also have the possibility to make people around me more conscious of what they should do to protect the environment. The environmental protection is an issue that inspires me to take action in my community. It’s related to my field of study because in Natural Sciences, we learn a lot about the causes of environmental disasters. Pollution is also an issue that matters to me. Even if a lot of improvements were brought to our lives such as the reduction of water and energy consumption, the use of public transportation and the recycling, several persons do not act in a responsible way. My goal with this project was to increase the awareness about the environment of the people I work with.

I work at Rona in the paint department. Since I started to work, two years ago, there is an aspect of the store that concerns me a lot. Indeed, there is no place to recycle papers. In the back store, there is one container for all the waste, whether it’s plastic, aluminum of papers. In our department, we work with color samples and we print copies for the customers. We use a lot of paper, but there is no place to recycle it. I decided to ask my manager if we could have a recycling bin. She thought that it was a good idea and she decided to help me. I wrote an official request that she gave to the shop director during a meeting. The first response was negative. I decided to use a box instead of a recycling bin. We put all the color samples and the papers that were used in this box. When it was full, I brought the box at home to put all the papers in my recycling bin. My manager suggested me to write a petition and to put it in the employee’s room. After three weeks there were 90 signatures. I handed back the petition to the director of the store and he finally accepted the proposition. We have now one recycling bin for each department and in the back store, there is a new container for the recycled paper. I believe that this change will have a positive impact on the environment. I think that without the help of others employees, this wouldn’t have been possible. As a team, we succeed to work as promoters of environmental awareness. We taught to people that by recycling they avoid to waste papers that can be reused. Also, our concern for the environment helped others employees to make changes to improve the store. For instance, my manager decided to sell a new brand of recycled paint. Customers are interested in this ecological paint. It shows that people are ready to make changes that will have a positive impact on the environment.