The climate in Ghana's Harmattan season is very dry and hot. Ghana eco-entrepreneur shows a DIY technique of how to make a small lip balm holder out of used bottle caps.
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00:00In Ghana, between December and February, we call it the Hamilton season.
00:06It's an extremely dry season, the weather is very dry, your skin is going to get dry
00:11and if you don't apply lotion on your skin, if you don't have enough lotion on your skin,
00:15your skin will look very whitish.
00:17The lotion container or the lip balm container is a very powerful upcycled item from Plastic
00:23Waste which you can keep in your bag, it can go in your pocket easily and you can travel
00:28with it and you can have a piece of lotion or lip balm in it which you can use regularly
00:34throughout the day.
00:48So welcome to Marking Touch Africa do-it-yourself upcycling session.
00:52So I'm going to teach you how to make a lotion case or a seedling container or a lip balm
00:57container from just bottle tops.
01:00So a couple of tools you need, you need a hacksaw, you need a scissors, you need a cutter,
01:09you need a glue gun and you need two bottles of the same kind.
01:16Right, now if you want to cut any portion of this bottle, the neck of the bottle is
01:22harder than the rest of the bottle.
01:24So if I want to cut the neck of the bottle, I need a hacksaw.
01:27If I want to cut any of this portion that are softer, I need a cutter.
01:33Then I can use the scissors to do some trimming.
01:36So let me show you.
01:38So you put the bottle down vertically, place your hands or neck like this and then use
01:44a hacksaw to cut it this way.
01:51So here you have your first bottle top.
01:54Now you need to trim this a bit.
01:56This is where you use the scissors.
01:58So I'm going to trim this a bit.
02:02And the reason why you trim this a bit is to make sure that the second bottle top can
02:07fit on top of this.
02:08So I take my second bottle top and I check to see if it will fit.
02:13If it doesn't fit, I have to trim it a bit more.
02:16So it does fit.
02:17So here.
02:18Since this is a container, we need to seal off one end.
02:21This end has a thread so you can open and close.
02:25The other side doesn't.
02:27So you want to seal off the other side that doesn't have the thread.
02:30This is where you use the glue gun.
02:33You want to put the glue in the space at the edges, not on the bottom of the container
02:38because then when you open, you see the glue.
02:40You don't want that.
02:41So you press the glue as you turn your hand gently all around.
02:47This is an instant silicone glue and it dries immediately.
02:52So after doing that, I put this and I press it and I hold it for some few seconds.
02:59So let's see if our lidbound container is done.
03:02So I'm going to try and open it.
03:04Here you go.
03:06All right.
03:07So this is done.
03:08So I have garnished cocoa.
03:10I have a cocoa butter here.
03:12So I'm just going to put some of it in there.
03:15There you go.
03:17And I close it.
03:20So there you have your lidbound.
03:22So you can do this yourself, wherever you are, wherever in the world.
03:26And this is how we fix the plastic problem.
03:29So the change I want to see happen is for every individual, every organization, every
03:33community to take responsibility for the waste they generate, where we are refusing single
03:40use plastics where we can.
03:43We are reducing the use of it.
03:45And then we are repurposing the single use plastics through upcycling and recycling.
03:50And then we are eventually transforming them completely into new products.
03:55And this is something not just for those of us who are innovators in the space.
04:00It is something all of us need to do because we all are the ones responsible for all the
04:05plastics that are roaming and floating all around the world in the sea.
04:11So if we can all do these simple things where we want to refuse plastics, reduce, repurpose
04:17through upcycling, and pass it on for recycling, the world will become a better place where
04:23we can do this and we can do it ourselves.