Sharjah teen meets 1,000kg recycling goal with community's help
Simran, a former student at Delhi Private School, Sharjah, began her recycling journey in late 2021 with a simple household initiative. At the time, she was collecting plastic, paper, and batteries from her home and nearby residences. Her efforts gained momentum in 2023 after she was featured in Khaleej Times for collecting 45 kilograms of waste. She had then set a modest target of reaching 100 kilograms.
'After the article was published, I started getting messages from neighbours who wanted to contribute recyclables. That's when I realised the power of awareness and how far one small effort can go,' said Simran.
She ended up collecting over 1,000 kilograms of waste, according to a certificate issued last month by Ecyclex International Recycling, a waste management company that specialises in electronics, plastics, and paper waste recycling services.
The waste included plastic, cardboard, paper, metals, electronics, clothing and cigarette butts.
According to Ecyclex, her recycling effort helped reduce 767.2 kilograms of CO2 emissions, saved 1,181.6 kilograms of oil, 307.8 cubic feet of landfill space, over 16,000 litres of water, and 4,625 kWh of electricity.
Simran credits much of the initiative's growth to community support and the involvement of her school. She ran a Recycling Week campaign, encouraging students to bring recyclables from home, and addressed middle and high school students on the importance of waste segregation. She also led activities for younger children to explain sustainability in age-appropriate ways.
"The collaboration with Ecyclex ensured that all the collected material was processed responsibly," said Simran who has launched a separate project focused on collecting discarded cigarette butts from public spaces, particularly beaches. She said her parents, Prity Rani and Sandeep Banga, have supported the effort by helping with collection drives.
'I've realised you don't need massive resources or a big platform to start,' Simran said. "What matters is the willingness to act. The damage is real, but so is our ability to fix things."
With one milestone now behind her, Simran hopes her story will encourage other young people to take action.
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