00:00When you see the discarded bottles, stop and pick them up and put them in one of the many trash containers you see everywhere, and then you will be blessed by God.
00:13This message goes down well here. Pastor Ferdinand Masabarikiza stresses to his congregation that loving God's creation also involves protecting them.
00:23Here at the Rehoboth Holy Church in Perundi, environmental protection is a pivotal and passionate issue.
00:30The teachings we're hearing in the church right now have made us realize that protecting the environment is our duty for every one of us.
00:43Protecting the planet means that we're also taking care of our own health.
00:47Here in Burundi, poor waste management has been posing a growing threat to the environment and to the population in the shape of social and health-related problems.
01:01The capital, Bunjumbura, has just one landfill, an open and uncontrolled site where pickers dig through the waste looking for anything of value.
01:09Luisa Irankunda used to collect charcoal to sell for a modest amount of money.
01:18With the help of a church-affiliated NGO, she switched to a far lighter recyclable material, plastic bottles.
01:25A local company buys them and pays collectors in cash.
01:29The materials are then resold to recycling facilities in Burundi.
01:32I thank God that I'm able to feed my children.
01:38Before, I only came here to collect charcoal and didn't know about the bottles.
01:45Now I earn money collecting bottles.
01:48I can carry around 20 kilos of them.
01:50Many people collect up to 50 kilos of refuse a day, which earns them a sizable amount of money.
01:59And for the long term, local residents here and elsewhere in Burundi have set up saving funds to put aside part of those earnings and to lend money to each other.
02:08With no functioning waste collection system, most trash ends up in canals and rivers, and eventually in Lake Tanyanika, the source of 90% of Bunjumbura's drinking water.
02:23Currently, the only effective way to dispose of the bottles and other plastic items is to collect the waste and feed it back into the local economy.
02:31Which is why the congregation of the Rioboth Holy Church have organized a beach cleanup today.
02:38The pastor explained what we can do to protect the environment, the rivers, and the lake, which you can see behind me.
02:48We're now doing what we can to remove everything that's polluting the lake.
02:55The volunteers for the cleanup are joined by Silas Bukumi, director of Nezerua Investment Group.
03:00He explains how microplastics in the lake enter local people's bodies via the fish caught here.
03:06And that's another reason why Fisher, Samuel Manirakiza, is glad to be taking part.
03:13It's been great to join the other people here and be involved in the cleanup.
03:17I've been working here for years and feel the initiative was really necessary.
03:21We're given instructions on how to dispose of the bottles we collect, and we earn money.
03:26That's down to circular economy initiatives such as the Nezerua Investment Group.
03:32From plastics to paper and cardboard, the company ensures that waste generated in Bunjibura is turned back into valuable raw materials.
03:40We're working together with churches, cooperatives, and local associations, because it enables us to reach a significant share of the population.
03:55And Christians take action when their priest tells them to.
03:58The company's aim is to minimize the amount of new plastic entering the environment, and for existing waste to be recycled into other products in Burundi itself.
04:12Another local firm turns old bottles into new ones.
04:15We produce between 20,000 and 50,000 bottles a day.
04:21Imagine how much waste even a little company like ours would generate if there was no recycling.
04:30Back at the Rehoboth Holy Church, Pastor Ferdinand Mazabarekiza continues to passionately preach the spiritual value of caring for the environment.
04:43Faith without action is meaningless.
04:46No one should claim to pray if they don't actually do anything.
04:49The word of the Lord clearly teaches us that faith without works is dead.
04:58The church in the Burundian capital sees recycling as a mission,
05:02a message that has been embraced by its congregation while also inspiring believers to create new opportunities in the community.
05:10The Church of the Lord with the Lord now is the original Environmental Foundation.
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