Artistic Clothing Through Plastic Bottles

Nigeria isn’t somewhere you’d expect to start adopting the green movement, with the country infamous for having discarded waste in the streets. This isn’t more of reality anywhere else other than Lagos, with one visual artist using it as a means to influence Nigerians towards the green movement. Adeyemi Emmanuel collects thousands of discarded plastic bottles, melts them down and creates various products for his people. This project is being accomplished to raise environmental awareness, with all of Adeyemi’s products relating to fashion. He’s manufactured wallets, bags, clothes, backpacks and gift boxes through these discarded plastic bottles.

Adeyemi Emmanuel maintains a fully-functional craft workshop and often spends twelve hours daily working on his designs. This Nigerian influencer has even begun hiring employees in Lagos to increase the rate of production. Subsequently, this young man is receiving praise from the local government on his efforts. It results in his having more than 10+ thousand followers on Instagram, where a large percentage of his products are sold. You can purchase his fashionable products for anywhere between $22 and $83.

Lagos supports twenty million people in Nigeria, with garbage and litter becoming commonplace. It’s prompted a significant problem for worldwide environmental associations, with a large percentage of Nigeria plastic waste entering their waterways. Lagos Waterways eventually lead to the Gulf of Guinea, resulting in thousands of pounds of plastic entering our oceans weekly. Luckily there are those in Nigeria that want to stop this rate of pollution. Both Nigeria Politicians and the Nigerian Maritime Administration are drafting legislation that will assist with limiting the rate of plastic entering the ocean from their nation.

It should be noted that multiple nations in Africa have already terminated plastic bags, with Kenya supporting some of the strongest laws against single-use plastics. Those that sell these plastic bags can be punished with a fine of $40,000.00 and 4x years in prison. Adeyemi Emmanuel hopes that through his efforts to inform Nigerian citizens, similar laws can be imposed in their country. It’d allow for an anticipate 77.25% decrease in plastic waste in Lagos and 89% across the entirety of Nigeria. Adeyemi also hopes that all remaining plastics in the country will be melted down and reused dozens of times. It’d drastically benefit our planet.