ECUH-Recycling grows fruit trees/Malawi +pic

Local recycling initiative will grow 85,000 fruit trees in Malawi

Environmental film maker Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek is asking everybody in Omagh to recycle their aluminium cans to help grow 85,000 fruit trees in Malawi.

Omagh District Council has signed up to the scheme which promises to grow a fruit tree in Malawi for every tonne of aluminium drinks cans recycled over the next two years, so the more we all recycle, the more trees will be grown. Around half the trees, such as guava and paw paw, will be grown from seed at 75 community nurseries. The remainder will be improved orange, lemon, mango and avocado trees - grafted on to wild rootstock in new greenhouses purpose built for the project.

The initiative is being run by not for profit organisation Alupro in partnership with British charity Ripple Africa in a bid to tackle de-forestation, improve nutrition and, as crop volumes improve, establish new businesses for fruit drying and juicing.

Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek said, "The potential for the project to make a real difference to building a sustainable future in Malawi is enormous. At the moment the only improved fruit trees in the area are imported in very small numbers from South Africa, so combining a source of good fruit tree stock with training at Ripple Africa's demonstration nursery is going to help a lot of people."

Charlotte added, "The great thing to remember is that the aluminium cans you recycle, the more fruit trees will be grown in Malawi."

Recycling aluminium is twenty times more efficient than making it from the raw material, bauxite, so getting the recycling habit saves massive amounts of energy, and will now also help reach the target of growing 85,000 in rural Malawi.