The waste museum in Nigeria

DW (English)

In her museum, Jumoke Olowookere transforms trash into treasures and delights visitors with art and decorations made entirely from recycled materials. It's inspiring and sustainable!

Transcript

00:00Have you ever been to a museum and thought to yourself,

00:05what is this rubbish?

00:07Or, I could have done that by throwing together some stuff from my garbage bin.

00:11That's exactly what this gallery is doing here.

00:19It's a new idea. Nobody has ever thought about doing a museum before dedicated to waste.

00:23Located in the heart of Ibadan in southwest Nigeria,

00:27Jumoke's Waste Museum is unique in Africa.

00:31Everything you see here is truly trashy.

00:34So why did Jumoke decide to waste her time on waste?

00:41I stumbled on the waste in my kitchen, so I started asking the question,

00:44what can we do with the waste that we generate instead of throwing it away?

00:49And nobody could give me the answer because it's like a stupid question.

00:53What is waste meant to be used for if not to be thrown away?

00:57But I just couldn't, you know, give up on that idea.

01:01And I was trying to look for what else we could do with the waste.

01:04Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and has a population of more than 200 million people.

01:11So plastic packaging and waste are, unfortunately, quite common.

01:15This harms public health and the environment.

01:18But what inspired Jumoke to create new uses for so many piles of garbage?

01:25I could say I fell in love with the waste and I didn't want to throw the waste away.

01:28Every single waste that I'm able to save is like I'm on a rescue mission.

01:32For every waste I'm able to save from ending up on the landfill, from ending up in the ocean.

01:38That's my motivation. That's what keeps me going.

01:41In 2022, Jumoke, a former visual arts teacher, attended a United Nations meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

01:49There, member states agreed to build a roadmap that would create a global plastic treaty.

01:55But around Nigeria, especially Lagos, a lot of waste continues to pile up in waterways,

02:01causing concern about the growing amounts of plastic in the ocean.

02:05Jumoke's way of recycling may be a little unusual, but it's getting a lot of attention.

02:11The idea of the secular world that is trying to achieve zero waste is something that is profound,

02:19that we need to all then to imbibe in our homes and around us, our surroundings,

02:25if we just make our country especially a better place to live in.

02:29Our initiative would help curb diseases and sicknesses that are needless.

02:34And then we'll create a sustainable environment, a greener environment,

02:39and a place where we can all enjoy our lives better.

02:44The museum, which exhibits Jumoke's work alongside other artists who share her vision,

02:50is raising awareness of waste management.

02:53Jumoke also teaches young people how to turn waste into functional, durable,

02:57and affordable products and supplies that can be used on school playgrounds, for instance.

03:05We also collect waste from source.

03:07So we have different families, friends, schools, organizations that have partnered with us

03:13over the years, and we collect waste from them from source.

03:16Because the kind of work we do, we do upcycling, we don't do recycling.

03:20So we don't use contaminated waste.

03:22So our waste must be from source, not contaminated.

03:26Jumoke's path may not be an easy one, but she is certain that her efforts are not in vain.

03:32So if I'm able to save 10 kilograms of plastic bottle today, I'm like, ooh, let's do more tomorrow.

03:44And who would have thought that garbage could look this good?

03:48That's what I've been doing for the past six years.

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