Plastic Wastes: An Environmental Challenge In Edo.

In times past, Edo was regarded as one of the cleanest states in Nigeria. The people’s effort to promote an healthy environment was topnotch, but in recent times it is fast becoming common to see waste mounds springing
up here and there, more worrisome is the dispersal of plastic materials which litter street corners, roads, markets, rivers, drainage facilities and make up almost all the wastes in one of world’s heritage site, The Benin Moats.

It is rare to see any good or consumables that is not packaged with materials made of plastic, as these single use waste materials are usually disposed off Indiscriminately after use. In a research conducted in 2017 by Code For Nigeria to identify approved and unapproved wastes dump sites in the state capital, covering Egor, Oredo and Ikpoba Okha local government areas revealed these environmental anomalies.

The wastes in these dump sites are mostly plastic materials. They are not only visible in the state capital, but across the 18 local councils despite the state investment in the sector, especially in cleaning some major roads and setting a day aside every month [Environmental Sanitation Day] for residents to clean up their surroundings.

Those engaged as street sweepers by the state, most of whom are casual wage
earners, discharge their daily routine of sweeping the major roads, but that is like stirring the ocean with a table spoon compared to the enormity of work that needs to be done in the area of waste disposal which had made the public see the authorities as paying lip service to the problem. There is virtually no area in the state with trash bin for pedestrians to drop these waste nor do motorists have waste baskets in their vehicles for use by passengers as it is common to see plastic bags, cans and bottles 'flying out' from moving vehicles apparently because of failure by the authorities to enforce the necessary environmental laws.

Aside rare official statements and advertorials by the environment ministry, there are no policy frameworks to enforce the
necessary environmental laws and sanctions to deter polluters. The popular Oba Akenzua Cultural centre adjacent the Oba of Benin’s palace has become a shadow of itself as passengers and commercial bus as well as taxi drivers drop their wastes anywhere they chose since the centre was turned into a "temporary motor park" by the government.

Residents litter the environment even when they intend to properly dispose these wastes. The accredited waste managers do not see it necessary to prioritize the clearing of wastes from collection points which sometimes get filled up, helping the spread of bacteria across the state. Some residents had settled for the services of what is known as ‘Cart boys’ who are unaccredited waste collectors that mostly dispose off their
collected wastes in unapproved locations.

“They [Waste Managers] do not come on time to pack the dirty we put here; and when they come, they do not pack it well, if you look well you will see pure water nylon flying on the road” One hawker at Oregbeni Market said.

Although since the 70’s, plastic wastes are known to pose great environmental
risks, when it was discovered that 69 per cent of livestock in Mauritania had died from plastic ingestion. Edo like the rest of the world is feeling the impact of this common environmental enemy which the government had acknowledged the ineffective process of managing. The State Governor, Godwin Obaseki during an inspection last year [2017] a waste dump site at Ikhuenirho, Uhonmwode local government area, stated that recycling was the way to go in checking the global menace of plastic wastes. One year down the line, Waste managers still take short cuts to dumping the collected wastes as the cart boys.

The state embarked on a massive clean up exercise that witnessed the ban on street trading and Hawking in urban areas to make way for the free flow of traffic and cleaner environment, but it has not stopped the single use plastic bags and bottles from 'flying' all over the place. These consumer wastes are known to form 98 percent of plastic debris in water bodies inside which 87 percent is generated on land.

The Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV) set up by the state government had carried out environmental sensitization as well as enforcing the anti street trading and hawking ban, also the Edo civil society organization, a network of civil society groups in the state joined in the sensitization of residents and traders on the need to obey environmental laws, but it had done little to tame the 'flying wastes' that is doing so much harm to the state’s aesthetics.

The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency [NESREA] enacted laws as the National Environmental Regulations, 2009 which forbids anyone from littering roads, public space, highways, drainage facilities or other unauthorized locations. Implementing existing laws would address the different environmental challenges in the state. And also education, information and Communication through the mass media deploying local languages will go a long way in influencing public behavior and reorienting citizens to be aware of the importance of protecting their environment.

Heavy rainfall across the world, widely attributed to global warming had in recent times caused climate change-driven flooding with devastating effects on the environment. The flooding which usually result in rivers overflowing their banks, submerge communities with lives and properties destroyed in the process and forcing people to evacuate their homes for Internally Displaced persons camps. Some countries in Sub-Sahara and East Africa as well as parts of Asia suffer flooding due to plastic-related blocked drains. In 2015 in Accra, Ghana, flood killed at least 150 people due to blocked drains and other water channels.

Despite huge funds expended in the state’s ‘Water Storm Project’ to control flood, there are incidents of destruction of properties and sometimes loss of lives each time it rains. Last year, the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], Federal High Court and Court of Appeal in the state capital where flooded, destroying office equipments including some card reader machines. Central and northern parts of the state are not left out in this problem caused by human activities resulting from poor waste management.

At the dammed Ikpoba River which serves as a boundary between Ikpoba Okha and Oredo local government areas, plastic wastes are common sight around and in the water. The river collects flood from the metropolis through different channels constructed for that purpose, but from time to time these channels gets clogged, blocked with plastic wastes. Some of the wastes that find their way to the river end up polluting the water for humans and animals which depend on the nature's gift for their living. The continued usage of plastic materials and their poor management is the main reason government is finding it uneasy to combat the threats posed by flooding across the state.

“When it rains almost all the plastic wastes around the city disposed off in the drainage systems find their way to Ikpoba river, sometimes i pay people to pack out plastics from the river and burn them",Tony Ugbokholen who oversees traditional religious activities at Ikpoba river said pointing at a particular spot with plastic dirts in the River.

The African Development Bank [AfDB], had in less than 48 hours to this year’s 2018 World Environment Day called on the world to take action against plastic pollution in the continent. It said every year 500 billion plastic bags are used around the world, 13 million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean and 17 million barrels of oil are used on plastic production. The Bank said that about 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastics and 83 per cent of tap water is found to contain plastic particles.

“In particular, it is impacting the ocean, which is the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe", AfDB said in the statement.

Single-use products like sweet wrappers, earbuds, straws and coffee cup lids, as well as other wastes that have little or no value to life, the Edo state commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Omoua Alonge Oni-Okpaku agreed is a major environmental problem to the state, even as government is working with key environmental stakeholders on how to check the menace.

"If you look around the drains and gutters around you, what you see are these plastic materials. It is one of our major problems, it enters back into the stream, rivers, it is affecting the food we eat and affecting our lifestyles, our life expectancy seems to be reducing due to the effect of these wastes", Oni-Okpaku told journalists at the venue of the event to mark 2018 World Environmental Day in Benin city.

The fight against plastic wastes and its impact on the world should be universally sanctioned and fought from all fronts. The Government can go into partnership if it can not on its own establish wastes recycling plants. It will encourage residents to properly gather their wastes as they know collectors would soon visit, maybe sometimes get incentives.

One of the major unapproved wastes dump sites like others dotting the state receive cart riders who operates as private waste managers. It is a selection point and business location to plastic wastes collectors who sort out these wastes, package them in large plastic bags and sell to recycling companies from other states. These companies have particular time they come to these sites with their heavy duty trucks to buy the sorted plastics.

Blessing Egbon has been in the business of sorting plastic wastes from dump sites around Ikpoba Slope in Benin city for more than 10 years. He called on the state government to established recycling plants like companies that come to the state to buy the [plastic] wastes.

“it will even create jobs and make Benin clean. Remember that they do not decay, they can be where you dropped them for more than 300 years",Ugbokholen said.

No thanks to packaging companies that resort to materials made from plastic. Traditional materials such as wood or even glass can make better alternative as they are cleaner to produce and easy to dispose. Wood is easier to reuse and dispose off as well. While recycling glass, metals may be expensive, but their green life cycle and durability will make the alternative worth the price and the wastes not end up in landfills.

"Plastic wastes from nylon [sweet, biscuit wrappers, water sachets etc] can be recycled to create beautiful plastic beads, interior decoration and other artworks accessories" said Ayimoro Ayodeji of Edo Global Art Centre.

Ayodeji, a resident artist who earns his living from collecting wastes to create artworks, was at the venue of the state government's commemoration of 2018 World Environment Day in Benin city, where he manned an exhibition of artworks made of recycled wastes.

"People dispose their wastes Indiscriminately and these materials are very hard to decompose, so we just make good use of them to create artworks", the artist said displaying a sweet wrapper.

Kenya, Mauritius, Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia have all ban and introduced prohibitive taxes on plastic bags. They have opted for biodegradable materials. Nigeria in 2013 through then Minister of Environment, Hadiza Mailafiya in that year’s World Environment Day vowed to end the use of polythene bags, but 5years after, the plastic material is still in use and Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo made similar pronouncement in this year’s event [World Environment Day] that federal government will collaborate with critical stakeholders to establish plastic waste recycling plants under what he called “the community-based waste management programme”, agreeing that if the country must control the proliferation of plastic materials, major producers of fast-moving goods must be partnered to put in place recycling programmes that could effectively ensure that the environment is free of plastics.

However, the Edo environmental commissioner who was appointed after her predecessor together with the former general manager of the state’s Waste Management Board were fired, reaffirmed the state government’s position to massively involve citizens for a sustainable solution, asserting that, Edo would "drive the course" of recycling wastes in Nigeria. Lagos, Kogi and Kwara states like other major cities in Africa and the rest of the world are already into the business of recycling wastes usually collected from users directly at their homes in exchange for incentives, which is one major way to managing waste across the world.

Occasional verbiage on how government intends to combat the monumental environmental challenges would not make any meaningful impact in the fight to beat plastic pollution, only collective action by the various tiers of government and manufacturers association can save the state from the impending dangers associated with these pollutants.