The government has been urged to make conscious and deliberate efforts to tackle plastic pollution to safeguard lives and the environment. Environmentalists made the call in an interview with journalists to mark World Environment Day with the theme, ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’.
One of the environmentalists who is the Public Relations Officer of the Environment Health Association of Nigeria, Mr Joseph Tamuno-Nengiofori, described single-use plastic products as non-biodegradable materials that are used once and disposed of, such as biscuit wraps and sachet water nylons. He described the polymer products as harmful to both man and animal.
Mr Nengiofori, who lamented the absence of a strict policy on the regulation of synthetic materials in the state, called on the authority to increase trained manpower to enforce environmental laws. “We are calling on the government through this platform to know that single-use plastic has become dangerous to the health of the people of Rivers State.
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The policy should be formulated, monitored, and implementation taken place, not forgetting the environmental officers are the people who enforce the laws. So we need the government to be active now. They should employ health officers. Go to the Ministry of Environment and Health. You cannot count up to twenty environmental health officers”, he decried.
Another environmental health expert from the Rivers State Council of Waste Management Society of Nigeria, Dr William Iyama, stated options for plastic use, such as fresh leaves, paper, and natural rubber, which are environmentally friendly. Mr. Iyama advocated the need for other organizations to liaise with the State Council of Waste Management Society of Nigeria to carry out an effective awareness campaign to educate the people in the state on the dangers of plastic pollution.
” I want to also, at this point, beg our radio stations you are the best friends of the people once in a while do jingles to let them know, we might not be able to pass such information alone”, he explained. The environmentalists advised Nigerians to always cooperate with waste management agencies to curb the proliferation of synthetic rubber.
