By Percy Ani

A report by Ellen MacArthur Foundation revealed that demand for plastic doubled since 2000 and could increase by 2050 has affirmed a looming plastic pollution crisis. The properties that make plastic appealing also appear to make it an environmental time bomb.

The report noted that since 1950, humans have produced more than eight billion tons of plastic and more than half of them end up in landfills, while about nine per cent was recycled. Most of the plastic that isn’t recycled or ends up in landfills, ends up in the oceans. According to the report, about 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic end in the ocean each year.

A Director of Ocean Conservancy’s Marine Debris Programme, Nicholas Mallos, noted that if nothing urgently was done, nearly one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish would be in oceans by 2025.

Ingestion, suffocation and entanglement of hundreds of marine species are the most obvious and disturbing impacts of plastics in the ocean. Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fishes and turtles mistake plastic waste for prey, and most die of starvation as their stomachs are filled with plastic debris.

Sea creatures are not the only things affected by plastic waste pollution in water bodies–humans too suffer severe consequences of the pollution. Invisible plastic has been identified in tap water, beer, salt and are present in all samples collected in the world’s oceans, posing several health threats to humans.

In March 2019, the United Nations Environment Assembly passed a resolution titled ‘Addressing single-use plastic products pollution.’ The resolution encouraged governments and the private sector to promote the more resource-efficient design, production, use and sound management of plastics across their life cycle.

Following the resolution, governments across the world set out targets that helped them effectively cut down on single-use plastics–enacting stringent punitive measures for defaulters of laws prohibiting indiscriminate plastic usage, while also educating the populace on the gains of massively cutting down on their dependence on plastic poison.

According to the United Nations, 77 countries have passed full or partial bans on plastic bags. In October this year, the French Ministry of Environment announced that to reduce plastic waste, the French government would ban plastic packaging for nearly all fruit and vegetables from January 2022. The move was aimed at preventing more than one billion items of needless plastic packaging each year.

Since African nations are the worst hit by the mismanagement of plastic waste, they are more likely to ban certain types of plastic bags. Thus, it is no surprise that some African countries have taken the lead regarding plastic waste management.

Countries such as Kenya and Rwanda have been lauded as proactive in the fight against plastic waste. Both countries have not only made rules concerning plastic usage and disposal but have also devised means to power economic growth– lifting citizens out of poverty through plastic waste disposal.

In Nigeria, the growing production of single-use plastics and the uncontrolled release of plastic debris onto the land and marine habitats are facilitating widespread plastic pollution.

In 2019, members of the Federal House of Representatives, alarmed by the environmental pollution posed by plastic waste in the country and spurred by the UN resolution, passed the Plastic Bags (Prohibition) Bill, 2018. The bill sought to address the environmental problems raised by plastic pollution, relieve pressure on landfills and protect the environment. It also required retailers to offer a paper bag to customers at a point of sale rather than polythene; guilty retailers risk three years in jail or a fine of N500,000 – or both.

Since May 2019 when the bill was passed by the House of Representatives, however, the Senate had yet to do the same.

In a 2021 ‘Plastic pollution by country’ report by the World Population Review, Nigeria was identified as the seventh-largest country in the world generating plastic waste–amounting to about 5.96 million tons of plastic waste every year. These plastic wastes end in landfills, sewers, as well as water bodies where they cause massive damage to flora and fauna.

In a survey, it was found that 70 per cent of Nigerians consume at least one bag of sachet water daily. This amounts to about 60 million plastic sachets used and disposed of each day. Since plastic sachets are made of non-biodegradable elements; they do not decompose, and this affects the physical environment in many ways.

All the plastic bags, bottles and other objects, disposed of without a moment’s care eventually end up in canals, water reservoirs and drains. After some time, the water channels become partially or completely clogged and cannot deal with a huge surge of water, thus, increasing risks of flooding and sometimes, even loss of lives.

Videos and pictures of swathes of plastic that have taken over many roads after it rains in Nigeria are commonplace. In fact, in areas like Lagos, after every heavy downpour, roads are overtaken by plastic waste pushed back to the land from the water bodies they were thrown into. Sometimes, the plastics are so many that major streets and roads are left impassable to commuters. The plastic waste, having no channel to flow into, mix with floods to invade homes and business places.

Some residents also burn plastic waste in communities leading to health and environmental problems.

The toxic substances released from burning plastic pose a threat to vegetation, human and animal health and the environment as a whole. Research noted that when Styrofoam is burned, it releases toxic chemicals and smoke that can damage the nervous system and lungs.

The burning of plastic wastes increases the risk of heart diseases, aggravates respiratory ailments such as asthma and emphysema and causes rashes, nausea or headaches. Also, the hazardous compounds released from burning plastics act as carcinogens and mutagens causing cancer and neurological damage, disrupting reproductive thyroid and respiratory systems.

Governments in Nigeria both at the federal and state levels have not shown enough capacity in curbing the dangers of plastic usage and disposal through laws.

Commenting on the issue, an environmental health and sustainability communicator, Temitope Okunnu, said that currently Nigeria had no law controlling the usage and disposal of plastics. She, however, noted that certain parastatals in Lagos State were saddled with the task of managing the use and disposal of plastics.

She added that one of the things she had been campaigning for was the lesser use of plastics, not only because of its effects on the environment but also its effects on humans.

She said, “Plastic has been known to cause hormonal changes in women and even children. Bisphenol-A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical used in manufacturing plastic has also been found in the urine of teenagers.”

Okunnu stated that apart from its effect on humans, plastic waste also endangers marine organisms.

She stressed the need for more education and sensitisation of the populace on the use of plastic. She added, “This sensitisation should cut across all levels in the country and even down to the grass-roots. For people at the grass-roots level, they might not necessarily use certain plastics, but they use a lot of sachets and nylons, especially pure water sachets. Through massive education on the effect of plastic waste, this problem can effectively be cut down.”

Okunnu also urged the creation of a value-based system to make plastic waste retrieval rewarding.

She stated, “With the harsh economic situation in the country, if people can earn money from returning plastic waste, then it is an effective method of removing plastic waste from the environment. Already, it is being done in parts of the country where people go out to scavenge plastics and get paid when they bring them to the recyclers. The government can empower this sector for effectiveness and this, in turn, can make more people see gathering plastics as a means to earning money ’’

She further canvassed the regulation of plastic usage in Nigeria and promotion of alternative methods for it.

Okunnu said, “Without enacting laws on plastics, nothing much will change in the country. When there’s law and enforcement on plastic use, people will have no choice but do the right thing. The lifestyle of the average Nigerian will change and adapt to it. The government has to make a law that bans single-use plastics and make the private sector commit to it.”

On his part, an environmentalist, Andy Umeh, stated that Nigeria was one of the countries in the world which had yet to fully embrace the UN resolution on plastic usage.

He stated, “This is an indictment on the seriousness of the government in tackling the plastic waste menace plaguing the country.’

“At this point, it is expected that a bill on plastic use should have been passed already. The effects of our overdependence on plastics are causing a lot of harm for not just the environment but our health as well.

Umeh noted that most states in the country were not equipped with the correct tools and technical know-how to handle plastic waste.

He said, “Lagos is about the only state making any stride as regards plastic waste management, but even at that, not enough is being done. To effectively turn the tide, the four Rs of waste management– reduction, reuse, recovery, and recycling– has to be fully inculcated into plastic waste management. This will go a long way in combating the threats posed by plastic waste.”

Speaking further, Umeh stated that monetising plastic waste collection would motivate Nigerians to participate in ridding society of plastic waste.

He said, “The government by championing waste to wealth initiatives will spur young persons to willfully participate in these initiatives. African countries such as Kenya and Rwanda are already doing it and reaping the rewards of their hard work.”