Positive Change: Learn Jenner's Story

Imagine landing in Nicaragua, a Central American country full of breathtaking natural beauty. You step into the role of Jenner, a seven-year-old boy from the Pacific coastal region. The beauty of your surroundings is unparalleled—but there is a problem: mountains of trash, plastic bottles, and packaging pile up everywhere in your community, with no one to dispose of them. There is no waste management system, harming the environment and the country's beauty.

But you have no energy to deal with it, because your biggest concern is simply surviving. Sometimes you are lucky enough to get a warm meal. But often your plate remains empty, and you go to bed hungry.

One day, your sister tells you about a "Buy Food with Plastic" event. You ask yourself: What is that? She explains that on Sunday, you can go to the basketball court in El Astillero with twenty plastic bottles and receive a warm meal in return.

That sounds too good to be true. You immediately start collecting plastic bottles—from the street, around your house, and everywhere else. On Sunday, you get up early, pack your bottles and your own dishes, and set off. At the basketball court, you are greeted by music and laughter. The atmosphere is fantastic, and the aroma of freshly cooked food fills the air.

In addition to the food, there is more: In a workshop, you learn what plastic pollution means for nature and how it can be combated. The bottles you collected are taken to the local workshop, where they are washed, sorted, and recycled into new products. For the first time, you learn about the circular economy, in which plastic is given a new life when its old one comes to an end.

Thanks to this workshop, your father Luis now has a steady job as a recycler. Your fear of having an empty plate on the table again is a thing of the past. This allowed him to provide you with something that had previously seemed out of reach: a new school uniform. Although school is free, all children need a uniform—something your family had not been able to afford for a long time. Now, with your father's regular income, you finally have the opportunity. So you smile happily at the camera, proudly posing for a photo in your new school uniform. Khalil is delighted to fulfill this wish. This is how the top image of Jenner came about.

“My parents couldn't afford new shoes and a school uniform for me." - Jenner

Sometimes all it takes is one encounter to turn a life around. At Buy Food with Plastic, we are proud to be able to positively influence lives like Jenner's through such encounters.

Buy Food with Plastic continues to aim to provide development cooperation and promote our social environmental project to improve the well-being of the local population.

You can help achieve this goal. With 10 CHF, you provide a recycler in our workshop with half a day's wages.

The location of our recycling workshop in Nicaragua: