On the issue of responsible consumption, there is one topic that particularly peaks my interest- plastics. We all know how the wrong disposal of plastic can pollute the oceans- whatever doesn’t wash back up on shore poses a threat to all marine life. Land disposal as well; shipping of trash to other countries, improper recycling or no recycling at all, and so on.

Although i have two large shopping bags that i have so i don’t have to buy plastic bags, there was still a lot i could do to reduce my own plastic footprint. It was only recently when cleaning out my room that i realized how much plastic I’d been consuming from buying 1.5, 5, and 8 Litre bottles. It was a lot, most of which probably won’t be properly recycled even if i throw them away properly. If i hadn’t been stacking them up, i wouldn’t have actually understood how much plastic only i have consumed in just a month. And considering how many other people are buying just as much or even more bottles of water, well… let’s just say an incredibly high amount of plastic.

I had to do something. For one, I’m planning on working with my friend in Architecture in turning some empty bottles i have into mini trash bins around the house. And for the solution for a new source of drinking water, i found out that there are water companies that deliver 19 Liter water bottles (damacana) right to our doorsteps. Although these bottles are plastic, we never really throw them away because the company just takes the empty bottles and replaces them with new full ones. The empty ones, I’m guessing, is then cleaned in the factories and refilled with water. That’s a lot of plastic saved, and i made some calculations showing that I’m actually saving money too. A win for me, and a win for the environment.

I will as well put my friends who buy a lot of water bottles on this too as i think that it’s a great idea to make a huge difference with small changes.

By Feyisayo Akinola