THE WASTES DON'T SMILE

A few years ago, a friend told me a short tale about one of his secondary school teachers who made it a MUST for his students to dispose waste materials such as papers, nylons and all sorts properly or keep them neatly folded in their pockets until they find themselves near waste bins where they can dislodge these wastes into. At that time, I thought of that noble teacher as absurd and funny and may be a little deranged to enact and adhere strictly to such a rule because it felt like a waste of time and effort. 

Today however, I dare to say that noble teacher should be applauded and possibly awarded for his actions. 

In Nigeria, it is common practice for people to litter their surroundings without flinching. Albeit many were taught against this 'little misdemeanour' in their formative years, none or little truly considered the lessons holy enough to practise it religiously and I am just as guilty of this awful deed. 

Ever since I heard that short tale though, my attitude towards waste disposal has gradually changed for better and I believe  every other Nigerian or whosoever reads this piece and who is guilty of this crime can change as well. Some of you may wonder how does proper waste disposal affect you or the price of garri in the market? The answer is quite simple. It does affect you and the price of commodities and below is how: 

Firstly, waste disposal affects your health. It's no secret that flies, mosquitoes, germs and bugs make dirty places their breeding place. The multiplication of these animals mean more of diseases like malaria, cholera, typhoid etc to us humans. If wastes are disposed off properly, and reduced to the bearest minimum our healths will automatically improve, we'll be free of dirty diseases and we can be as beautiful as God wants us to be. 

Secondly, waste disposal affects the prices of goods in the market. Studies have shown that the Nigerian government and even private entities spend hundreds of millions of naira to dispose and treat the tons of wastes that we drop on the streets, in our gutters and on the highways just to keep us safe and our environment clean. Some may feel it's the government's duty to do that but have we thought that we can prevent that occurence by acting more aptly with regards to our wastes. The government doesn't litter our streets and schools, it's us, the citizens who do that but we expect the government to clear it up. If we act right however, the government can channel those hundreds of millions of naira into other sectors of the economy that will positively affect the market price of our beloved garri. 
When used and disposed off properly, some of these waste products can be recycled and reused thereby reducing cost of production and in turn reducing market price of our common goods. Some of us know this but refuse to care about it, yet we complain of inflation. Some other countries thrive on this simple principle but here it doesn't appeal or make sense to us does it? 

Thirdly, improper waste disposal is just a diabolical act that doesn't portray us as good or clean people to others in the diaspora who are more enlightened on this issue. Before publishing this post, I read some articles written by foriegners who visited Nigeria and their reports as regards how we treat wastes are BAD and shameful. Imagine wanting to take a selfie and the background is so unkempt, a good natured person will have to look for 'greener pastures' just to take that selfie. Dirts don't beautify our surrounding, they denature them instead. 

There are other disadvantages of improper waste disposal such as causing erosion, impeding plant growth, ozone layer depletion among others which are all unpleasant to human nature. 

Notwithstanding, it is possible for us to transform our dear nation and mother earth from looking like this:

To this: 

To achieve this, we all need to manage our wastes properly, treat our environment with care and respect and be religiously consistent about it just like the noble teacher in the short tale above. 

Let's join hands to make the world a better place. 

~Beezle