Trash to treasure: Genius lady converts waste plastic bottles, old tyres into playthings for kids
- A 41-year-old woman, Jumoke Olowookere, is creating a sustainable environment for all through her recycling work
- The woman has been able to create outdoor play equipment for children and many other things like a Christmas tree
- According to her, the journey to turn waste into useable things all started in 2015 as a way to reduce discarded items
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A young lady, Jumoke Olowookere, has taken the game of recycling to another level as she is turning waste plastic bottles and old tyres into playthings for children.
The woman’s journey to turning waste into 'gold' started as far back as 2015 when her apartment manager told them that the house rubbish collection fee would shoot up, Aljazeera reports.
Jumoke said that after that development, she began looking for ways to reuse things so they do not go to the bin and swell the trash.
Source: UGC
That single event has given birth to an organisation, Africa Creativity and Sustainability Hub, that among other innovative things, transforms refuse into play equipment for school children.
Years ago in 2019, the woman gave 40 schools play equipment that was created in collaboration with the students from waste materials.
She said:
“My staff and I challenged the students to bring waste to school from their communities. With that, we built them playgrounds and we repainted the school walls outside. Many of them were painting with their hands, for the first time. In fact, some refused to wash their hands and went home with their coloured palms."
Jumoke also sells chairs and other materials that are made from waste. As a way to protect herself from COVID-19, she also made basins with tyres.
The woman spoke about how her work is struggling for mainstream acceptance, revealing that people sometimes do not want to buy her products because they are made from trash.
To celebrate the festive season in 2020, Jumoke made a 13-foot Christmas tree that had over 800 plastic bottles. She installed it very close to her office in Ibadan.
Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh earlier reported that a Nigerian lady, Adejoke Lasisi used the effective power of recycling nylon wastes and she achieved wonderful results.
Adejoke shared beautiful bags, clothes and shoes she made from the sachet water nylon trash. She could be seen in one of her shared photos rocking a matching dress, necklace, sandals and bag; all products of trash-conversions.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
Nathaniel Crabbe (Human-Interest editor) Nathaniel Crabbe is a journalist and editor with a degree in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism, where he graduated in 2015. He earned his master's from UPSA in December 2023. Before becoming an editor/writer of political/entertainment and human interest stories at Asaase Radio, Crabbe was a news reporter at TV3 Ghana. With experience spanning over ten years, he now works at YEN.com.gh as a human interest editor. You can reach him via nathaniel.crabbe@yen.com.gh.
Aba Afful (Copyeditor) Maame Aba serves as a copy editor at YEN.com.gh. She naturally enjoys working with words and has an eye for quality content. She has a keen interest in cyberspace and wants to see YEN.com.gh produce more impactful, thought-provoking, and error-free content. Aba has five years of experience as a content writer, blogger, author, and proofreader. She graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2017. She joined the team in 2021.
