NW population sensitized on demerits of plastic bags

By Njodzefe Nestor in Bamenda

A sensitization campaign to inform and educate the population on the harmful effects of plastic bags has been launched in the North West by its Regional Delegation of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development.

                The campaign comes on the heels of the April 24 dateline set by government banning the use of non-biodegradable plastics in Cameroon.

                Launching the campaign, Tansi Laban Bambo, North West Regional Delegate of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development said that the effects of plastic bags on the environment are devastating. He explained that the burning of plastic bags emits toxic gases that harm the atmosphere and increase the level of dioxins and carbon dioxide in the air which depletes the ozone layer and eventually leads to global warming and climate change. He added that some of the plastic bags buried in the soil would take approximately 400 years to decompose completely.

                Using the NW as a case study,  Tansi Laban observed that in the region, municipal councils who are charged with the management of waste face a lot of problems due to the incorporation of non-biodegradable plastics as most of the waste from homes (house refuse) is not sorted before disposal.

                “Some uncivilized inhabitants of the towns and cities even dump it into gutters and streams resulting in the blockage of these gutters and pollution of the streams and eventually the sea and oceans”, Tansi Laban noted adding that “the fish and other sea animals if they could speak will testify as to the amount of plastics they receive each day”.

                He said thousands of pigs and other small ruminants have died prematurely because they ate plastic bags and some sea mammals mistake these plastics for food. .

                Ending his presentation Tansi Laban recommended that alternative biodegradables like waste newspapers, raphia baskets, jut bags, banana/plantain leaves cement papers and cartons could readily replace plastic papers. He concluded that the fight against the use non-biodegradable plastics is a collective fight for the effects are local, regional and global.