It is very important to understand that a clean environment is what guarantees safety and sustains our existence on the planet earth. Majority of sicknesses, infections, accidents and most deaths are traceable to the state of the environment where you live. So the state of your environment determines the quality of the state of your health and this makes it a must to take care of your environment.
By clean environment I mean the presence of clean air, safe water and then entire cleanliness of the surrounding environment but this book is keenly focused on trash and refuse in the wrong place (Litter) and will be search-lighting it’s many consequences which endangers thousands of lives on daily basis.
Nigeria is a country with threatening litter (trash) problems, this situation has negatively affected the image of our dear nation, exposed millions of people to environmental hazard and dangers and making a mess of our environment. Litter (trash in the wrong place) is an important environmental issue that has been identified worldwide as a major environmental problem. When you carelessly drop trash on the environment it affects every member of the society: it creates dangers, makes our surrounding environment look messy which suggests that we do not care for our environment.
Think of all the beautiful cities around the world you’ll like to visit. What is so fascinating and special about these cities? It is the presence of a clean environment and the inhabitant’s decision and resolve to keep their country tidy and beautiful.
Now look at your own environment, do you like what you see? Look at the gutters along your street lane, is the water moving or stagnant due trash hindrance? Each time you are in a public transport do people use the wastebasket if there’s any or do they just toss their trash out of the windows? When you are in your house, in public place or walking along the street do you put your trash in a bin or do you just drop it on the floor and walk away like it’s none of your business? After consuming your favorite snack and plastic-packaged fruit drink do you dispose your trash properly or do you just fling it away regardless of where it lands and the harm it causes?
The aim of this book is to enlighten everyone on what litter is, why people drop litter (e.g. why someone will leave the plastic container of the fruit drink he/she has consumed and walk away). This book will open your eyes to the many consequences of our ugly attitude towards the environment and suggest to you the benefits of a clean environment and how we can all ensure a clean, safe and healthy environment. This book is written to inspire everyone to adopt a clean and green lifestyle to help keep Nigeria mess-free, livable and habitable because as Nigerians-we are clean people.
As you learn, share what you’ve learnt with your friends and family and encourage them to follow your example.
WHAT IS LITTER?
Litter can be described as waste in the wrong place. Litter is the rubbish, trash, garbage that people have carelessly discarded on the environment which creates a danger to public health, welfare and safety. If ‘litter’ is the trash then the act of dropping litter is known as ‘littering’ so someone is said to have ‘littered’ when they drop trash on the ground.
From your small favorite sweet wrapper and biscuit sachet to large bags of rubbish that people deposit on the ground, litter endangers the environment in no small way. In Nigeria, most people do not consider ‘recharge card’ papers and ‘pure water’ sachets as litter but these pieces of rubbish are often the most littered items on our roads and street.
Check out your surrounding environment: your gutters, streets, roads, recreation centers, markets and other public places, you’ll notice these items lying every where. Despite their destructive effects, ugly and unpleasant sight, yet, we disregard their presence and go about our everyday business as if they don’t matter. Our behavior has become a problem to our environment. If you still drop your ‘pure water’ sachet, plastic container, ‘recharge card’ paper, nylon, cans, etc on the ground after consumption then you need to take a second thought at your attitude and rethink your behavior because you are treating your country like a waste bin.
So litter doesn’t have to be large heap of refuse before they become litter. As little as they may seem, they get accumulated in the environment over time to become threat to our very own existence. Now let me paint a real picture on how a single piece of trash can accumulate to billions of trash just by continuous and collective depositing. There’s an estimated one hundred and sixty million (160) people in Nigeria. An average Nigerian consumes three sachet of ‘pure water’ in a day. Now if eighty million Nigerians drop the empty sachet on the ground after drinking the water, the number of ‘pure water’ sachet trash will rise to two hundred and forty million (240) in a day and in a year, it will culminate into billions of trash. Unfortunately, only a little percentage of this trash (trash properly disposed in bins and litter baskets) gets to our waste management authorities for recycling and conversion. The greater proportion are either lying on our environment in piece, heaps or occupying and stagnating water movement in our gutters, canals, lagoons and other waterways causing grievous environmental havocs. We’ve just considered ‘pure water’ sachet litter alone, you will agree with me that there are other forms of trash that we drop on the ground on daily basis, like fruit peels and edibles, vegetable remains, plastic containers, nylon bags, papers, drink cans, biscuit wrappers etc. Daily we punish our environment with millions of this trash not knowing that we are also endangering lives on the planet.
Now here is a simple question for you: Would you drop banana peels or ‘pure water’ sachet on the floor in your house? Nobody in their right frame of mind will do that because your loved ones may step on the trash and slip. It’s a horrifying thing to do because your family members or the people you share your home with may not find it proper. If you can’t drop trash in your house then why do you drop it on the ground in public places and endanger others. Why do you treat your environment like a waste bin?
We are gradually turning our country to refuse dump and if we continue this way the consequences will send us all packing. Gladly we can all do something about it; we can in one way or the other help to save our environment by resolving and deciding not to litter. So to prevent litter you have a role to play. It takes an individual to positively influence and impart others in a community, city and country. By this insight, we understand that trash is meant to be disposed off in a waste bin or basket so that the waste management authorities can evacuate them for us and transform the waste into other useful components, when they are scattered every where in the environment-they create hundreds of problems.

To Be Continued...

Culled from the book: Nigerians Are Clean People (A clean environment guide for Secondary Schools) by Ezebube Obinwa C.E.

WHY DO PEOPLE LITTER?
If littering is such an unpleasant treatment to the environment, you may be wondering the reason behind littering. Have you ever pondered why people easily drop trash on the ground and walk away without any feeling of guilt like they are doing the right thing? Here are some of the reasons why people litter:

IGNORANCE
Majority of people who drop litter on the environment do so because they are unaware of the consequences. So lack of adequate knowledge or proper enlightenment on the effects of littering is primarily the commonest reason why people leave their litter on the ground and walk away. If they knew that litter is harmful they will be more responsible and put their trash in the bin or litter basket.
LAZINESS
Some people litter even when a wastebasket is close to them. They know that trash left on the ground is improper but they are just too lazy to stand up, walk to the bin and do the right thing. They just leave the trash on the floor and go their way.

SOCIAL VALUE
An average Nigerian don’t see anything wrong with littering so as long as their homes are clean they don’t care about their surrounding environment. When you drop trash on the road nobody cares to caution you or discourage because to everyone, there is nothing wrong with it. Our poor attitude to waste disposal is more like a tradition that has paralyzed our value system, so we need to change our mentality. Littering is wrong and unacceptable, so don’t conform yourself with the status quo. Always discourage it.




FORGETFULNESS
It takes a strong will and decision not to litter to achieve a clean environment, otherwise you may decide not to litter today and forget your new resolution the day after. So there are people who forgetfully let litter slip out of their hands, only to regret their action when they realize it.

SOMEONE IS PAID TO CLEAN UP
Most people just drop their trash on the ground in public places like roads, shopping complexes, markets, sports ground, churches, parks etc because they believe someone is paid to clean up after them.
Imagine a laundry man who is set to wash some set of clothes by 8am in the morning. He got his washing machine and detergent ready only to discover that the clothes he is to wash are scattered around the neighborhood in piece. By the time he must have gathered the clothes, he’ll loose time, energy and efficiency. But if the clothes are where they are suppose to be, his job will be quick, perfect and efficient. So even if we don’t litter, street cleaners and refuse collectors will still have their job. In some Nigerian cities, street cleaners and sweepers have not been able to effectively tidy up the cities because the rate at which trash is deposited far exceeds the rate of clean ups and sanitation.
If you put your trash in the bin, street cleaners and refuse collectors won’t have difficulty in keeping the environment clean always. Putting your trash in the bin is a clear indication that you support and encourage their jobs.

IT’S NONE OF MY BUSINESS
People who drop their trash on the environment apparently don’t care about the environment. As long as their homes are kept clean they care little about the environment where their houses are located. They lack self respect and therefore don’t value the safety of the people they share the environment with. They care little about everyone else, so they just eat and drop their trash on the ground not minding if their neighbors are endangered.

TRASH ATTRACTS TRASH
Have you observed that people tend to drop their trash in a place were trash already existed? Yes. It will be very unusual to drop litter in a clean environment but the moment you drop trash in a place, it sends an invitation that it is acceptable for others to drop their trash there. Even in your local environment if a heap of refuse is not quickly evacuated, the refuse increases with time. This is why it is important to keep your environment tidy always and pick up trash where it occurs as soon as possible.

FOUL SHOOTING
There are times you aim for the wastebasket or trash can, you miss, but instead of picking up your trash you abandon it on the ground and walk away. This is foul-shooting. Until your trash is safely and properly inserted into the trash can, you have littered and it is a wrong attitude.

THE LOCATION OF TRASH CAN/WASTEBASKETS
Most times people sight the unavailability of litter bins and wastebaskets as motives for their littering behavior. To them there are no bins close to them when the need arises and it will be unacceptable and inconveniencing to hold on to their litter. The truth is that there will never be enough waste bins close to your seated or standing convenience in the sense that when you need one it will just appear. There are waste bins and baskets in strategic positions, you’ll be doing yourself and everyone in the community some good if you look for one and dispose your trash properly.
There is a story of some Japanese children who even at the age of five hold on to their biscuit trash until they find a waste bin around. And in most cases, if they can’t find a waste bin as they walk home, they’ll pocket their litter until they get home.

Culled from the book: NigeriansAreCleanPeople (A clean environment guide for Secondary Schools) by Ezebube Obinwa C.E
Ezebube is the coordinator of KeepNigeriaBeautiful ,an anti-litter campaign.

beautiful book. nice one