This thinking is at the heart of Ecoball, an initiative that transforms litter collection into a structured game for children. Rather than treating waste as a burden or punishment, the project uses competition, teamwork, and recognition to embed environmental awareness early in life. Dr. Oludele Mayowa Solaja, founder of the Ecoball Initiative and senior lecturer at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Nigeria, sees this approach as a way to shift mindsets while building community engagement around waste management.
He explained that Ecoball is designed to make environmental responsibility emotionally engaging rather than compulsory. By combining sports mechanics with waste sorting, repurposing, and environmental quizzes, children begin to associate cleanliness with pride and achievement. He noted that this early exposure helps normalize recycling, teamwork, and circular thinking, creating habits that can extend beyond schools into wider communities.
“The major emotional influence that I observed is that the pupils were happy seeing the environment clean. […] they discover that the environment is clean […] with the spirit of competition. So it was fun, and I think that the major emotional or psychological influence is the fact that they are able to ensure that the environment is clean, and they are also doing it in a very competitive manner with the team spirit, the team goal, and then with the aim that they will have certain recognition for being the overall best,” Dr. Solaja explained.
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