Plogging is a combination of jogging with picking up litter. However, my project was carried out while walking swiftly in my sport wears and picking up litter consisting of nylon and bottles that were unattended to by those in the environment and serve as pollutants to the environment. I plogged waste from the physical environment of my campus.
The title of my MCN Project is ENVIRONMENTAL PLOGGING.It is a variant name for Project Climate Change Awareness carried out by some fellows in my campus. We worked together.This was borne out of a genuine desire to keep my environment clean. For about 8 years, it has become a practice for me to keep nylon and bottles of consumables in my bag, if I am unable to find a waste bin or basket. This is to avoid littering the environment and causing erosion and flooding by my act of carelessness. However, some persons in the world and in my country, Nigeria, specifically, are accustomed to throwing litter on the floor because they feel they can escape the environmental laws of the nation and it is a societal norm. The average Nigerian community is filled with litter and is thereby dirty to the core. While the government has paid workers that dispose of litter, they cannot reach the nook and cranny of every city in Nigeria. This made me partner with The Ploggers Club, University of Ibadan, Nigeria in carrying out my project because I believe that I would achieve more and learn better from those that are already in the business of cleaning up the environment. My project was based on SDGs 11, 13 and 15.SDG 11 is about sustainable cities and communities, SDG 13 is on climate action while SDG 15 is about life on land. Since environmental waste affects the climate, life on land and can affect the sustainability of a community, my project name was carefully selected to be inclusive of the environment and was aimed at achieving the three aforementioned goals.
On 28th October, 2023, I left my school hostel before 7 am in a bit to clean up the University of Ibadan which happens to be my campus as it is more proactive to clean up one’s immediate environment. I got a waste nylon and hand gloves from the Ploggers Club and we started our journey. I spent over 2 hours picking litter comprising of nylon, paper and bottles and there was no area in the school that was bereft of litter. This made me realize the importance of the MCN project and Sustainable Development Goals.
After the plogging process, more than 5 big waste bags were filled up and disposed using the waste disposal mechanism of the school. Afterwards, I used hand sanitizer to clean my hand and washed my hands at a close by tap. My Environmental Plogging process was a huge success and I look forward to carrying out more plogging projects in a bid to making the environment a sustainable one and a better place to live.
Every stage of the project was properly documented in form of pictures and has been properly stored.