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!
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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.