Young Nigerian makes chair, stool from waste paper
Recycling,
which is the conversion of waste into reusable material or new products,
helps to reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy
usage, air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for
conventional waste disposal.
A young Nigerian, Mr. Zege Aondofa, a 2012 Mass Communication graduate from Benue State University, says he is in love with the word ‘recycling’ and has, therefore, taken paper recycling a notch higher. Currently awaiting his call-up letter for the compulsory one year national service to his fatherland, Zege has made chairs and dressing tables from paper. In this chat with Vanguard Learning in Yola, Zege speaks on his passion for recycling and what he has been able to achieve so far. Excerpts:
BY EBELE ORAKPO
WHILE waiting for his call-up letter for the NYSC, Zege went to do a temporary job at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) and while there, he came up with something innovative, encouraged by the institution’s Office of Sustainability.
How the idea came about:
“There was a particular evening I was alone in the room watching television; they were talking about recycling and I fell in love with that word, recycling. It got me thinking – ‘what is it that I can do to recycle something?’ Coincidentally, I came to AUN and we started a job. Usually, they would ask us to pack used papers and throw them away and I just wondered why we would be throwing away papers just like that.
I decided to try and see if there was any way I could recycle it. I thought of recycling it into a kind of take-away plate but along the line, that idea died but the idea of recycling was still alive. I started thinking again that since I couldn’t make plates, what else could I make?”
And then it happened. “One day in Church, I sat quietly, thinking about paper recycling and something just came into my mind that look, I could recycle the papers into a chair and I had the faith that I could do that. How? I never knew but I was inspired into action. I went out and got papers which I ground with mortar and pestle. After drying the pulp, I formed it into different shapes. I made a chair out of paper and it was very good.
When I did that little chair, my faith grew. If I could do this small one, it means I could do a bigger one. Thereafter, I made another one and then a bigger chair. When I did that one, I looked at it critically and said: ‘Ok, let me do one that will be big enough and strong enough for someone to sit on. By the grace of God, I was able to achieve that and I am gradually making progress,” he stated.
From this point on, there was no stopping Zege as he made a dressing table and is thinking of making office equipment such as file holders.
There are, however, some challenges as according to Zege, “I can do so many things with paper but the challenges are limiting production. The process involves about eight stages but the two challenging aspects are the grinding and drying, very long processes. It takes about three weeks sometimes to dry after moulding. We are trying to see if there are machines we could get to grinding and drying.
“Once we have these two major items, others will follow, like the binding strength; we could add some chemicals that would bind them more firmly because right now, we are not using anything to bind it. People keep asking what we use to bind the pulp and I tell them we use nothing. One secret about paper is that once it is properly ground, it binds strongly. So we hope as we make progress, that we will keep coming up with different items and improved quality.” :
Stages involved:
“First of all, you gather your papers, soak them in water for about three to seven days so that the grinding will be easier. After soaking the paper, you grind it into very fine particles (pulp). Once it is properly ground, you form it into desired sizes. The next step is to dry it after moulding. When it is dry, you go straight to construct what you want.
That is where artistic skills come in. The next step which is the binding, I do with sawdust mixed with top bond glue, so as to prevent chipping. I only bind with sawdust but to get a higher quality, we employ body filler used for automobiles. We use it to smoothen the body of the product. The body filler makes it very smooth and gives it that straight edge and some other qualities.
“After that, you go for the polishing which is the spray. “We hope that with time, we can improve the quality.
The chair is very strong; that is one good thing about it. We only use white paper because it binds better. Newsprint takes a longer time to soak and it does not bind like white paper so it is better with white paper but we hope with time, we can find a solution, then any other paper will do,” he said.
A young Nigerian, Mr. Zege Aondofa, a 2012 Mass Communication graduate from Benue State University, says he is in love with the word ‘recycling’ and has, therefore, taken paper recycling a notch higher. Currently awaiting his call-up letter for the compulsory one year national service to his fatherland, Zege has made chairs and dressing tables from paper. In this chat with Vanguard Learning in Yola, Zege speaks on his passion for recycling and what he has been able to achieve so far. Excerpts:
BY EBELE ORAKPO
WHILE waiting for his call-up letter for the NYSC, Zege went to do a temporary job at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) and while there, he came up with something innovative, encouraged by the institution’s Office of Sustainability.
How the idea came about:
“There was a particular evening I was alone in the room watching television; they were talking about recycling and I fell in love with that word, recycling. It got me thinking – ‘what is it that I can do to recycle something?’ Coincidentally, I came to AUN and we started a job. Usually, they would ask us to pack used papers and throw them away and I just wondered why we would be throwing away papers just like that.
I decided to try and see if there was any way I could recycle it. I thought of recycling it into a kind of take-away plate but along the line, that idea died but the idea of recycling was still alive. I started thinking again that since I couldn’t make plates, what else could I make?”
And then it happened. “One day in Church, I sat quietly, thinking about paper recycling and something just came into my mind that look, I could recycle the papers into a chair and I had the faith that I could do that. How? I never knew but I was inspired into action. I went out and got papers which I ground with mortar and pestle. After drying the pulp, I formed it into different shapes. I made a chair out of paper and it was very good.
When I did that little chair, my faith grew. If I could do this small one, it means I could do a bigger one. Thereafter, I made another one and then a bigger chair. When I did that one, I looked at it critically and said: ‘Ok, let me do one that will be big enough and strong enough for someone to sit on. By the grace of God, I was able to achieve that and I am gradually making progress,” he stated.
From this point on, there was no stopping Zege as he made a dressing table and is thinking of making office equipment such as file holders.
There are, however, some challenges as according to Zege, “I can do so many things with paper but the challenges are limiting production. The process involves about eight stages but the two challenging aspects are the grinding and drying, very long processes. It takes about three weeks sometimes to dry after moulding. We are trying to see if there are machines we could get to grinding and drying.
“Once we have these two major items, others will follow, like the binding strength; we could add some chemicals that would bind them more firmly because right now, we are not using anything to bind it. People keep asking what we use to bind the pulp and I tell them we use nothing. One secret about paper is that once it is properly ground, it binds strongly. So we hope as we make progress, that we will keep coming up with different items and improved quality.” :
Stages involved:
“First of all, you gather your papers, soak them in water for about three to seven days so that the grinding will be easier. After soaking the paper, you grind it into very fine particles (pulp). Once it is properly ground, you form it into desired sizes. The next step is to dry it after moulding. When it is dry, you go straight to construct what you want.
That is where artistic skills come in. The next step which is the binding, I do with sawdust mixed with top bond glue, so as to prevent chipping. I only bind with sawdust but to get a higher quality, we employ body filler used for automobiles. We use it to smoothen the body of the product. The body filler makes it very smooth and gives it that straight edge and some other qualities.
“After that, you go for the polishing which is the spray. “We hope that with time, we can improve the quality.
The chair is very strong; that is one good thing about it. We only use white paper because it binds better. Newsprint takes a longer time to soak and it does not bind like white paper so it is better with white paper but we hope with time, we can find a solution, then any other paper will do,” he said.
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