By Sylvia Okedi
Environmental sustainability and proper waste management start with individual efforts to curb the devastating effects of improper waste disposal to man and other species in the ecosystem.
Plastic, being one of the polymeric materials, isa non-biodegradable waste in our environment which when not properly disposed, reused, reduced or recycled ends up in the landfills, ocean or burnt, causing emission of greenhouse gases thereby, polluting the environment and endangering life on land and water.
According to the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria generates 32 million tonnes of waste per year, of which 2.5 million tonnes is plastic waste and the country waste disposal system is inefficient in terms of dealing with both plastic and non-plastic waste which 70% ends up in the landfills, sewers, beaches and water bodies causing flooding and species on land and water go into extinction as a result.
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), each year, an estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean –equivalent to a full garbage truck dumped into the sea every minutes. Plastic debris is carried by the wind or other means into the ocean and is ingested by the sea animals, killing them or being harmful to the health of man when consumed as food.
Umar Musa Umar, a lecturer with the department of Geography,Yusuf Maitama University, Kano asserts that increase in the volume of solid waste generated daily, monthly and yearly globally is as a result of technological advancement, high population density and modernization generally. However, this should not pose a threat to humanity rather the improper disposal of waste is what becomes the problem.
He stated that the indiscriminate disposal of waste is dangerous to human beings especially the urban settlers due to dumping of solid waste in unauthorized places, inadequate waste disposal method, non-implementation of rules and regulations as well as the punishment of defaulters cause pollution, extinction of biodiversity and other health issues.
“The impacts of improper disposal of waste is felt in the areas of poor agricultural yield, widespread of germs and diseases, extinction of aquatic life due to toxification from waste that ends up in water bodies, climate change and the depletion of biotic and abiotic,” he said.
He added that it has been confirmed that for the last two decades, the global temperature has an increase of about 0.5°C and this 0.5°C, resulting to the melting of glaciers which may increase the sea level waters to 10-20 centimeters.
“There is a report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which says, by 20100, the temperature of the Earth is going to increase by 1.5°C and this increase, may lead to the increase in sea water level to about 26-27 centimeters, thus, may result to so many coastal areas being submerged by the sea or ocean- consequently, may result to loss of houses at the coastal areas and the increase in the pressure on land which will also lead to housing crisis due to migration and an increase in violence and crime rate,” he added.
As a result of environmental threat by plastic and othersolid waste, it became mandatory for the United Nations to strategize to take a unified approach with other countries of the world to achieve a polluted free environment leveraging on the United Nations 17SDGs. Today we have more than 15,000 volunteers ensuring a sustainable environment and data has been recorded across 80 countries on this project.
Amongst others, Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative (Areai), a non-profit organization that works with and in under-resourced schools and marginalized communities, providing technical and infrastructural support to scale learning outcome and drive tangible academic achievement for poor and vulnerable children and low-income families, set out on a Mission Zero Plastic campaign in partnership with GreenWithGrin; a community aimed at raising environmental conscious individuals who are deliberate about making lifestyle changes to promote environmental sustainability and fight climate change and Plogging Nigeria; a community of environmental campaigners who are mostly youth and students spread across 18 institutions and membership of about 1,300 across its subsidiary clubs in Nigeria; took this noble step in line with the United Nations SDGs 1, 11, 12, 13, 14,15 and 17.
These youths and students engage in community services, sensitization and educating the masses in Kwara State about the impact of plastic and how not to litter them rather manage them to save mother earth.
Praise Robert, an Engineering student of the University of Ilorin and Team Lead at GreenWithGrin, Ilorin, said they”post the Green words everyday on our social media platforms and also engage in community clean-ups occasionally to mark environmental awareness days of the year.”
She stressed the need to adopt a green lifestyle by making sustainable decisions and engaging in practical action that does not harm the planet like making use of reusable straw, spoon, plate, water bottle to reduce plastic waste and to prevent food waste because all these affect the planet negatively.
Waste Management in Kwara
The General Manager of Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency (KWEPA), Alhaji Sa’ad Ayuba stated that waste can be reduced and mananged by taking proactive steps to prevent the indiscriminate disposal of solid waste, one which, according to him, the state government is taking.
‘The Kwara State government is making sure that general waste is managed in the state. As a result, more larger litterbins are provided to replace the smaller ones in strategic places in the city to be picked by trucks to the dumpsite, that’s one of the efforts of the government to ensure normalcy as regarding the issue of waste,” he said.
He however revealed that “the major challenges faced by the Kwara state government is that, there are some people who are not accredited by the KWEPA as Commercial Contractors who empty their waste anywhere instead of the dumpsite, some people also dump corpse, excreta and unquenched fire in the litterbins provided for waste disposal, hence, the reason why the government has suggested smaller waste bins but now larger ones are required due to people dumping the ground. Because of these problems, suggestions are made to install CCTV cameras, Vigilantes and mobile court to punish defaulters.”
Kehinde Akinsola, a Broadcast Engineer and Team Leader of Areai, Kwara State stated that, “the Mission Zero Plastic is a step to curbing environmental pollution as a result of improper disposal of plastic in 6 States across Nigeria including the FCT through recovery and repurposing of 600 tons, over 18million PET bottles in 12months.”
According to him, “through this project sponsored by The Coca-Cola Foundation, the organisation will promote community recycling efforts and boost the empowerment of women and environmental awareness across Nigeria which one of the strategies is Women in Action, which seeks to train, equip and empower 300 waste collectors, 50 women each across the 6 locations.
“The women waste collectors would be trained on financial literacy and in addition, provided with Personal Protective Equipment, and would be empowered through a double-double scheme which will help low-income families to earn more in exchange for the plastic recovered and sell to Mission Zero Plastic which would have originally end up blocking canals and as a result such cause flooding.The campaign aims at partnering with stakeholders and likeminded organizations to achieve the United Nations SDG17 by creating awareness on recycling and recovering plastic in the community.”
Usaefat Sodiq, a Civil/ Strutural Engineer and Principal Lead at Ploggings Nigeria, Ilorin stated that”when we came to know about the Areai campaign in Kwara State, it is only natural for us to get involved. The goal to recover 3 million PET bottles in Kwara State could leverage on our members passion and dedication as well as our experience in community service thus far.”
He emphasized on the benefitsof the partnership as it helps to protect the environment from pollution and assist the work that volunteers do in a bigger and more impactful way, thus, it is personally rewarding for volunteers and the club to get involved.
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