Story provided by WWF Thailand

This innovative idea came from the Wat Bangnanai School, Bangkok, Thailand. The Eco Committee wanted to solve their problem of waste separation by having a general bin and a recycle bin in the school area. However, the students still continued to mix their garbage.

One day, the school basketball team won the Thailand Regional Championship. This inspired a lot of the other students to want to become basketball stars. They started practicing by trying to dunk their plastic bottles like they were basketballs. The Eco Committee took that idea and created a special bin called ‘Shoot for Change’. This bin is more than two meters high with a painted backboard and basketball hoop at the top. Now the students can have fun throwing plastic bottles in the bin. Moreover, they are now separating the bottles correctly at the same time. Because of its height, the other type of waste, especially general waste because of its lightness, cannot be thrown inside the bin.

This ‘Shoot for Change’ bin has gained a lot of interest throughout the whole school and reduced mixed garbage by more than 50% within one month. Soon, they will have a bottle shooting competition in the school as well.