Global Day of Action: Time to ban single-use plastics is now, says SRADev-Nigaria

The Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria) joined campaigners across the world on Wednesday 31 March 2021 to mark the Global Day of Action, a movement by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) to promote zero waste and economic recovery around the world.

Armed with posters with inscriptions such as: Coca-Cola,7up, Bigi, Nestle… save us from plastics #Ban single use plastics; Say no to plastics, Yes to zero waste; Don’t feed the plastics monster; Global Day of Action, Go #Beyound Recovery; Ban single use plastics now; Ban single-use plastics now! Not 2025 among others.

The campaign which took place in the city of Lagos kicked off at the busy Maryland bus stop from where it moved to Alausa,  and Agidingbi junction by Coca-Cola to send the message to the government and one of the major polluter company in Lagos.

Executive Director, SRADev Nigeria, Dr. Leslie Adogame, said the banning of single-use plastics is an inevitable process which must be embraced now.

He went further, “Banning of single-use plastic is an inevitable process, and we must embrace it just now. It is either we do it now or we die with plastics. We have to ban single -use plastic because there are alternatives. Let the industry stop hiding away from the alternatives, there are alternatives. We do not have the capacity in Nigeria.

“Even the developed countries are moving beyond recovery and our message is, we have to go beyond recovery and that is recycling. How many recycling facilities do we have, in the next ten years, how many recycling facilities can Nigeria afford, compared to the volume of plastics waste been churned out on  a daily basis. We are producing plastics as if there won’t be tomorrow. The Coca-Cola, 7up, the Bigi, they keep on churning out plastics, where is there recycling facilities? They don’t have. It is not sufficient.

“What we are saying is, zero waste economy is the best way to go. Less reduce the production of plastics to the extent that when we want to recycle the few, the earth capacity is there.”

Asked on the alternatives to single-use plastics, Adogame said “there are alternatives for packaging materials that are biodegradable. Very environmental friendly, we cannot continue to churn out plastics that will take 100 of years to biodegrade. We are dying of plastics, plastics tsunami want to kill us. The government has to implement polluters pay principle. The company should internalize the little cost, they know it.”

On the next line of action, he said “we are taking the message to the government in Alausa, we have a message for the government, and they have to begin to put a programme in place to face out plastics. Our message to the Federal Government is that the National Policy on Plastic waste is telling us they will ban single-use of plastics in 2025, we cannot wait for 2025. The time to ban plastics is now. There are alternatives to sirofoams that cannot biodegrade. The alternatives, we must use them. The ocean, beaches are filled with plastics.”

Senior Programme Officer, SRADev- Nigeria, Mr. Victor Fabunmi added that “most of the time, the plastics are not well recycle, you find them in the environment. Some leach to the soil and ocean. When it is being burnt, it emits dioxins s to the atmosphere which comes down as chemicals causing cancers and other health issues. There are alternatives.”

GAIA in a statement said: “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc upon our communities, our decision-makers are promising that a recovery is around the corner. But the COVID-19 crisis has exposed how unjust, undemocratic, and unstable our current system is. It is not enough to simply recover.

“We can’t go back to polluting industries – like plastic production and waste incineration – destroying our land, air, and water. We can’t go back to governments disrespecting and underpaying the work of waste pickers and waste workers, the unsung heroes of cities around the world. We can’t go back to a system where those least responsible for the waste crisis–low-income and marginalized communities–are made to suffer the most. It’s time for our leaders to stop investing in industries that put our health and our climate in danger.

“We can’t go back. So we must go beyond. We must invest in the movement for zero waste, led by the very same people who have been most harmed by the current make/take/waste economy. Communities across the world, from Buenos Aires to Boston, Sardinia to San Fernando, have developed zero waste systems that have saved cities millions, created good jobs, built up local economies, and improved the quality of life of countless people. When we go beyond recovery, we create an economy of life, where nothing and no one is wasted.”