TOTAL BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS AND REGULATE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOTTLES

Conwell Hakapya Executive Director Citizens Environmental and Social Concern

By Conwell Hakapya, Executive Director, Citizens Environmental and Social Concern (CESCo) +260 97 7766117

PLASTIC pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues globally and Zambia in particular. This problem is mainly necessitated by the rapid, increasing, and uncontrolled production of disposable plastic products which are overwhelming Zambia’s ability to deal with them especially after-life.

In 1950 the world produced only 2 million tons of plastic per year. Since then, annual production has increased nearly 200-fold, reaching 381 million tons of plastic produced in 2015. Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. About 12% has been incinerated, while the rest 79% has accumulated guess where? our Environment (landfills, drainage’s, rivers, oceans, and surroundings).

What we cannot deny is the fact that plastics have offered us a very beneficial convenience which has transformed the modern age so much so that life without most plastics would be very difficult, it revolutionized medicine with life saving devices, made cars and planes to be lightened hence saving fuel and subsequently reducing pollution etc., but unfortunately this same dependence on plastic has led to a throw-away culture.

While using plastics in some cases may be unavoidable as earlier alluded to, we can take steps to reduce our constant consumption and discarding of this chemical-laced material and this cannot happen by try and error nor by coincidence but by applying proven environmentally friendly measures such as totally banning single-use plastic bags and heavily regulating single-use plastic bottles through a real and we mean a REAL EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (EPR) REGULATION not this current Extended Producer Responsibilities SI # 65 of 2018 which has only successfully managed to extend hands into poor people’s pockets by charging them for single-use plastic bags and our hardworking councils turned into errand boys to constantly and tirelessly clean the cities and markets while well-known Zambia’s biggest plastic polluters stroll to the bank with a chi big smile to collect their profits of pollution with impunity.