TeamUpcyclers

TeamUpcyclers is a community-based project that addresses environmental issues through the production of reusable sanitary pads and other functional artworks from textile waste. The project focuses on promoting sustainability, reducing waste, and providing access to education and job creation opportunities. TeamUpcyclers incorporates local culture and traditions into their creative work. They engage the community through storytelling methods, videos, and social media, collaborating with local leaders and organizations to reach a broader audience and achieve greater impact. The project is intersectional, addressing the needs and interests of the Enugwu Agidi and Amawbia communities where the team members have lived for years. The Problem More than 300 million women menstruate every day around the globe. An estimated 500 million people worldwide lack access to menstrual products and suitable accommodations for managing menstrual hygiene (World Bank, 2022). In Enugwu Agidi, Anambra State, Nigeria, We distributed 1200 questionnaires to the students, and after receiving 1150 of them back, we learned that 80% of female students skip class when they are menstruating, 92% of the students know nothing about the SDGs, and 100% of the students are willing to learn more about the SDGs. According to research, reusable pads made from fabrics are much safer for women's health than the common plastic sanitary pads that subject girls/women to the risk of cervical cancer. According to Malgorzata (2018), the fashion business alone is responsible for 4% of the waste produced worldwide. The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in landfill every second (UNEP, 2018). Water resources are depleted, waterways and streams are polluted, and 10% of humanity's carbon emissions come from the fashion industry. Additionally, according to the UNECE (2018), 85% of all textiles are disposed of annually, and washing some types of clothing releases a sizable quantity of microplastics into the ocean. The quantity of waste clothing sent to landfills will dramatically decrease when tailors and textile vendors learn how to upcycle their textile waste, lowering our carbon footprint and their annual carbon emissions. We found that the textile industry in Enugwu Agidi and Amawbia generates an average of 10,000 kg of waste clothing per week from the survey we did in 20 tailor and textile vendor stores throughout these two communities. 80 percent of these wastes are burned, which greatly harms people's health by emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Since textile wastes cannot decompose, the remaining 20% are dumped in landfills, increasing the amount of trash that harms our ecosystem. With sufficient understanding of the SDGs and recycling, these clothing dealers will significantly change their attitude toward the disposal of textile waste by collaborating with us to alter societal narratives.