File picture: Luis Acosta/AFP
Did you know that the world generates around 350 million tons of plastic waste per year, and now produces twice as much as it did two decades ago?
I think it is safe to say the world is in a terrible state environmentally, and it’s all because of us humans. But a Nigerian woman is changing that – one piece of plastic waste at a time.
Adejoke Lasisi, an economics graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, started a business converting waste – including water sachets, nylon items and textiles – into beautiful products that don’t damage the environment.
Reminiscing in a social media post about how she started her business a few years ago, Lasisi, from Ibadan in Nigeria, said she started weaving from the back of her home with one used loom.
She later bought another used one. Owing to her business growing, in 2015 she managed to get five new looms, along with other weaving equipment and one sewing machine.
Gradually she acquired more equipment, and by 2021 her business had expanded to other hubs and the number of looms she owned had increased to 22.
“In 2022, we purchased six additional sewing machines, a leather sewing machine, a tapping machine, and some other equipment.” Lasisi said they were currently manufacturing 60 additional looms to be installed in their existing factory, located in a community in Ibadan, in Oyo State in Nigeria.
“We believe this factory will create an additional 100 jobs for youths and women in Ibadan and Nigeria at large.” She added that they were building a crèche for the benefit of their workers who were also mothers, to enable them to work effectively and also to keep their children with them in a safe environment.
*Williams is a multimedia journalist.