Bubu's visit to Grannies

When Bubu* paid a visit to his grandparents at their place in Lagos, Nigeria, he never knew he would get the chance to share some things he had been learning about plastic waste recently.

His luggage had barely found its way in, when the family discussions began and lasted for hours. This catch up was long overdue as Grannies had not seen their 'little Buu' since he got this new job placement in another city.

Their topics soon began to switch lanes and -in a little while, they had moved from speaking about every member of the extended family, Lagos traffic, some matters of faith, the upcoming elections and now, they were discussing plastics.

As you would guess, this chapter opened with an array of praises. Granpa, who had earlier purchased two little plastic containers of "Gbogbonishe", (a local herb concoction,) rolled out these next lines, scoring some new points!

"You know Bu, Plastics are very durable, so light and quite easy to handle ,they..."

...he continued to share how they have assumed a wide range of packaging for several products today.

At this time, Bubu was without words, he seemed to have shrunk smaller than the petit bottles themselves.

Mist, suddenly appeared onto his glass frame, blurring his vision for a second or so, yet, Bubu's mind stayed awake with one question;

Why these plastics still sat on Grandpa's central stool, receiving all the applaud!

Luckily, the next minutes of the chat were on Bubu's side, he now rolled out his reply.

He gave a long list of the downside of plastic use to the environment, some he had read up along the way!

"Ah!, really Bu!, Plastics don't decay?"

"Yes, Granny!"

This was quite revealing for Grannies to find out that plastics only break into pellets after much wear and tear.

Further surprised, they learnt that their plastic bags, and other discarded items as such, could reach the ocean and affect life in the waters as well.

This discussion was now worth a reflection.

'What can we do?', their faces seemed to ask...Selah!

The above story Bubu shared goes to show that we often forget that plastic products, shortly after their 'good use', do more harm than good if not managed properly.

Our present waste disposal culture affects the thousands of marine lives, some of which we depend on indirectly for food, survival or would just not like to see cease to exist.

If persons of all ages, Grannies alike, can have more information about the impact of indecent and indiscriminate waste handling, then some of these output will be reduced and a lot more people would begin making the right decisions by first, asking the right questions. Just like Grannies did today.

Here at WasteMeansMore, It's all about rethinking waste from the real harm it causes into the beauty it can be. This is possible with a little more decency!

Share your own story with us today!

Yours with Mother Nature.

*Adapted from a real story but name was changed for privacy.