Thu, 08 Feb 2018 07:23:31 +0000
By ALFRED TEMBO
CHOLERA which claimed more than 80 lives from over 3,000 recorded cases in Zambia has stirred up a revolutionary campaign to restore sanitation, calling for the banning of plastic bags.
Launched nearly a month ago by Benjamin Bush, “Ban Plastic Bags in Zambia” is making its stride through use of social media platforms to lobby government to abolish plastic usage in the country.
Owing to poor policy reforms and reluctance by state regulators in environmental administration, Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), the country has over the years continued to post an increase, in littering of the environment, which is highly attributed to unrestricted wide distribution of plastic bags.
An independent survey, revealed that most plastics flooding the Zambian market are imported from countries such as South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania while an additional quantity is supplied by local players in the manufacturing sector.
According to a source at Shoprite Supermarket, the country’s largest South African chain store in Zambia, the company gives away more than four thousand plastic bags on an ordinary off-peak day to its customers, amounting to 40, 000 plastics a month and nearly half a million plastics every year.
The populist advertising model has seen majority of the plastic bags finding their way into the environment, without the company policy to recoup its waste.
Environmental activist, Richard Sheppard said for Zambia to scale up on environmental security it needs a lasting solution in place.
He said this will deal with the current littering crisis citing that cholera has already dealt the country a huge blow due to absence of legal instrument that deliberately protect the environment and restrict the use of non bio-degradable packaging material.
Mr Sheppard said the negative effect of using plastic bags is extended to the bush where it disturbs wildlife.
“Recently, I was in Livingstone, I saw elephant dung with plastics in it; this clearly shows us that animals are eating plastics. And something has to be done to deal with this crisis now,” Mr Sheppard said.
The seasoned environmental activist has played an instrumental role in influencing people to consider protecting the environment.
Some 20 years ago, he organised the famous “Clean Livingstone campaign” which he later followed up when he made headlines when he launched “clean air campaign” in the resort town five years later.
Speaking on both initiatives he held, Mr Sheppard a community builder who has a passion for environmental security, explained that the two initiatives opened up for him to step-up and unleash the value and importance of preserving the country’s heritage from an ecological frontier.
In line with “Ban Plastic Bags in Zambia,” Mr Sheppard explains that, “The initial campaign which was launched by Benjamin Bush attracted over 8 000 signatures. I was inspired to be involved in this campaign and invested at least $400 which went towards promoting the Facebook (social media page).
“The campaign was seen by more than 40,000 people and at the same time recording over 500 engagements.
“From around 10,000 signatures we are having now, we are looking at targeting at least 100 000 signatures which will be submitted to relevant authorities in environmental management.”
He said the greatest challenge, “In Zambia, supermarkets are using plastic bags as models of advertising. Unfortunately this plastic takes long to decompose, hence costing the environment.”
In a separate interview a government official says the State is tailoring an statutory instrument to tone done littering and scale up protection of the environment.
“There is a joint memorandum that the government is working on. This document is covering issues bordering on environmental concerns and is being put together by the ministry of Commerce, Health and that of Water and Sanitation. But more details will be provided in due course,” said the permanent secretary in the ministry of local government Amos Malipenga.
Meanwhile, on a global scale Coca-Cola Company is among the multinational seeking to make a difference in environmental security. The company has a deliberate plan to collect uncounted for bottles and cans that are already in the environment.
Early this year, Coca-Cola Company, President & CEO James Quincey, said environmental concerns are issues of the heart to his business stating that since 1995, they were a lead sponsor of the world’s largest volunteer effort on behalf of ocean health — Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup.
Over the course of that partnership, Coca-Cola Company helped to mobilise 11 million people to clean up 206 million kilogrammes of trash from over 360, 000 kilometres of coastline.
In his statement he challenged communities to be proactive in mitigating environmental problems by working together to curtail pollution of the environment and thereby limiting spread of diseases.
“There is so much more we can do together.
“No one company, organisation, government or person can solve this problem alone. Imagine if every company that sells packaging joined us on this journey. Imagine if we were all putting our expertise and resources into solving this problem. Imagine if we all worked to help keep packaging out of the places where it doesn’t belong.”
“When we all come together through concerted, collective action, we can make a meaningful, lasting difference.
“It will require hard work, dedication, and investment from many players, but I’m certain that the payoff for our planet, our communities, and our business will be well worth the price.”
With regard to providing lasting solutions to the now environmental crisis draining public coffers through the ministry of Health and other government departments, Zambia is now liable to protect its citizens, wildlife and the general environment by embracing bio-degradable packaging material.
Call to ban usages of plastic bags is not the first of its kind on the continent, other countries such as Rwanda and Kenya have successfully managed to embrace the new world order rule, where protection of the environmental is a priority by banning plastic bags in their countries.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Environment Programme, states that global materials use reached almost 90 billion tons in 2017 and the figure is three times more than the amount used in 1970.
The report is a clear testament on how using (and wasting) natural resources is at its increase globally, hence need to tone done on natural resource expenditure.
Zambia has no choice but to join the fight and make a successful fight of it. Anything else will leave the country to a constant battle with epidemics such as cholera as well as the severe impact that unfettered usage of plastics will have on the country’s natural resources.
