When Did Improper Waste Disposal Become Normal?

Image by Ramatu Ada Ochekliye

By Victor Jacob

From my primary school days, one lesson was repeated almost every day: discipline went hand in hand with orderliness. It was a value our teachers constantly reminded us of, both inside and outside the classroom.

Every morning during assembly, we sang a simple song that has stayed with me ever since:

“Oh cleanliness, oh cleanliness,

Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

After the morning assembly, we would return to our classrooms and begin the day's lessons. At the time, those words were just another part of the school routine. Like many children, I sang them without giving much thought to what they truly meant.

After every break period, our teachers would ask us to pick up every piece of litter scattered around the classroom and the school compound before lessons resumed. It became part of our routine. Yet what fascinated me most was that the waste bins were never far away. They were always there, visible and accessible to everyone. Still, many of us chose to throw our plastic bottles, food wrappers, and scraps of paper on the ground instead.

Looking back now, I realise those morning assemblies were teaching us something far greater than keeping our uniforms clean or our classrooms tidy. They were teaching us that the way we treat our surroundings reflects the values we carry as individuals and as a society.

As I reflected on those memories, I realised that the environment is the shared home we all depend on. Every street, park, drainage channel, school, and community connects us in one way or another. When we carelessly dispose of waste, we are not simply littering a place—we are leaving the consequences for someone else to live with.

That made me realise that, in the end, it all comes down to our choices. The choices we make every day can either make our communities cleaner, healthier, and safer, or gradually make them more difficult to live in. And yes, even if those choices were made under bad circumstances.

In many communities across Nigeria (and dare I say, Africa), those choices are already visible. Walk through some neighbourhoods after a rainfall, and the signs are difficult to ignore. Plastic bottles bob in pools of stagnant water, food wrappers cling to fences and tree branches, while overflowing gutters carry a mixture of discarded waste and muddy water. The smell hangs in the air. Flies gather around overflowing bins, and children carefully step around litter on their way to school. It is not a scene created overnight. It is the result of countless everyday decisions that, over time, have quietly reshaped the places we call home.

When did this become normal?

At Shades of Us, we believe the stories that shape our communities are not always found in extraordinary moments. Sometimes, they are hidden in the everyday habits we have stopped questioning. 

The overflowing waste bin at the corner of a street. 

The plastic bottles floating after a heavy rainfall. 

The food wrappers caught on fences long after they have served their purpose. 

These are stories too. They reveal how we relate to our environment and the choices we make every day.

For a long time, I believed that environmental protection was mainly the responsibility of governments, sanitation agencies, and environmental organisations. They make the policies, organise clean-up campaigns, and manage waste disposal.

But the more I reflected, the more I realised that every pile of waste begins with a single decision. Someone chose to throw something away, assuming it would no longer matter once it left their hands.

Perhaps that is where the real problem begins—not with the waste itself, but with the mindset that someone else will deal with it.

I found myself thinking about the journey of a single plastic bottle.

Imagine buying a bottle of water on a hot afternoon. You drink it within a few minutes and, without much thought, throw the empty bottle onto the roadside. For you, the story ends there.

For the bottle, it is only the beginning.

Have you ever noticed the small symbol on many plastic bottles showing a person dropping waste into a bin? It may seem insignificant, but it carries an important message. Manufacturers include it to remind us that while a product's purpose may end after we use it, our responsibility for its packaging does not. What we choose to do with that empty bottle can influence everything from the cleanliness of our communities to the health of our ecosystems.

The next rainfall washes it into a nearby drainage channel, where it joins dozens of other discarded plastics. Gradually, the drain becomes blocked. When heavier rains arrive, the water has nowhere to flow. Streets become flooded, businesses close for the day, children struggle to get to school, and families find it difficult to move around safely. A decision that took only a few seconds has now become part of a much larger problem.

If the bottle escapes the drainage system, it may eventually be carried into a river and, from there, into the ocean. Marine animals such as turtles, fish, and seabirds can mistake plastic for food or become trapped in discarded waste. Over time, sunlight and waves break the bottle into tiny pieces known as microplastics. Scientists have found these microplastics in rivers, oceans, farmland, wildlife, and even in food consumed by humans. Rather than disappearing, plastic remains in the environment for decades—and in many cases, centuries—continuing to affect ecosystems long after it has been thrown away.

At Shades of Us, we believe stories have the power to change the way people see familiar challenges. Sometimes, lasting change begins not with a policy or a campaign, but with a simple moment of reflection. By encouraging conversations around responsible consumption and sustainable living, we hope more people recognise that protecting the environment begins with the choices we make every day. In many ways, that is the heart of Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

The next time it rains, perhaps the question is no longer whether our drainage channels will be blocked. Perhaps the real question is whether our everyday choices have contributed to the problem—or become part of the solution.

Because protecting the environment does not begin with governments alone.

It begins with habits, and every habit begins with a choice.