BEYOND THE VOLUME OF PLASTIC WASTE

The use of plastic materials should be regulated to protect the environment

Apparently responding to a recent report which identified Nigeria as the second plastic pollution hotspot in the world after India, the federal government has launched a road map to tackle the menace with the support of the private sector. “Nigeria faces a significant challenge in managing the large volume of plastic waste being generated in the country,” said the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, who also chairs the Nigeria National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP). “This challenge also creates a wealth of opportunities for a massive circular economy across the plastic waste management value chain.”

We endorse the idea to use what has become a problem to “stimulate job creation, foster the establishment of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises, and attract private sector investment, including foreign direct investment through building the necessary infrastructure for the plastic economy.” But there must also be a campaign to discourage the use of plastics in Nigeria. Every household or office or neighbourhood in the country has various types of plastics that are not reusable, and which at end-of-life are littered on the streets, caught in fences and trees, dumped in drains, rivers and lagoons, the ocean and all manner of places where they cannot decompose. Every year, the federal government only perfunctorily ‘marks’ the World Environment Day without bringing some of these issues that impact on the future of the country into public discourse.  

The government needs to take concrete actions to protect the environment and rid it of plastics as some African countries have done by placing a ban on plastic bags, which are the most used form of plastics. Some of the African countries that have banned plastic bags include Benin Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Morocco, Mozambique, Malawi and Niger. Others are Rwanda, Madagascar, Senegal, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Tunisia and Kenya. Botswana and South Africa have imposed huge levies on plastic bags. This has led to many retailers charging a fee on plastic bags and consequently a reduction in its use in both countries. 

Scientists have raised global concern that plastics pose unimaginable danger to humanity and may reach crisis levels unless deliberate actions are taken to reverse the trend. The warning is particularly important for Nigeria since it is believed that plastic bags that are used daily can take between 10 to 1000 years to decompose, while plastic bottles can take 450 years or more. Yet, because single-use plastics are light, strong, can be shaped easily and cheap to produce, they are littered around the entire landscape. 

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) believes the disposal of plastic waste needs to be handled with urgency and that everyone has a critical role to play in mitigating the issue at the household, national, regional, and global levels. With worldwide awareness and action for the protection of the environment, there is an urgent need for government at all levels in the country to trigger actions that would control the production and use of plastics that are not reusable or cannot decompose..

According to experts, the process of manufacturing plastics and its disposal through burning is harmful to workers and that it does not decompose makes farming cumbersome and kills livestock. Also, studies show that single-use plastics are harmful to the environment and have suggested that manufacturers of plastics can switch to reusable products because single-use plastics’ waste can take decades to decompose in landfills/dumpsites. Nigeria should take a positive position on the eradication of plastic pollution in the overall interest of the people and future generations.