From trash-strewn pavements to avenue distributors packing meals in polystyrene containers, plastic waste is a continuing menace within the city panorama of Lagos, Nigeria’s financial capital and the continent’s most populous metropolis.
That picture may quickly change if the native Lagos State authorities manages to implement its latest formidable ban on the usage of polystyrene and single-use plastics.
The announcement of the ban on styrofoam bins and single-use plastics, “with immediate effect”, by Tokunbo Wahab, the state’s commissioner for setting, took many Lagosians abruptly, particularly those that earn a residing within the casual sector.
“Styrofoam boxes are cheaper than reusable plastic ones,” stated Cecilia Mathew, 20, who sells dishes of rice, meat and garri – or cassava flour – on the streets of the favored district of Obalende in Lagos.
“It does not make sense to put food inside poly bag [plastic bag],” stated one other meals vendor, Funmilayo Oresanya, 43.
For environmentalists, the Lagos State transfer was a welcome one that might not solely minimize down on waste but additionally scale back carbon emissions.
However different critics questioned the feasibility of a direct ban on such generally used merchandise, particularly for companies.
“It’s too sudden,” stated Kehinde Bakare, 61, a polystyrene field vendor. “There are people that are using it as a means of living so what will they be doing? How about the production people?” she stated, asking that they be supplied “substitutes”.
Nigerian fast-food chain Meals Ideas, identified for its in style eating places Rooster Republic, PieXpress, and The Chopbox, “applauded” the measure, saying in a press release it was “beginning its transition” to finish polystyrene bins and inspiring its clients “to come with their own containers”.
Motion plan
Folawemi Umunna, co-founder of the NGO Initiative for Local weather and Ecological Safety, stated the choice to get rid of non-biodegradable supplies was optimistic if Lagos State correctly manages its motion plan.
On his X account, Wahab revealed a video on Tuesday exhibiting well being employees finishing up checks within the metropolis.
In 2019, Nigerian MPs handed a regulation banning plastic baggage however it hit a useless finish as a result of it didn’t full its legislative course of. Different African nations have additionally tried to ban plastic baggage with combined success.
However in Lagos, a megacity of greater than 20 million inhabitants, the problem of waste administration is essential as garbage commonly blocks sewers and evacuation routes, significantly through the wet season, inflicting floods and inspiring the proliferation of mosquitoes, vectors of malaria, in stagnant water.
Nigeria is Africa’s second-largest importer of plastics, in keeping with the German Heinrich-Boell Basis, representing 17 % of the full plastic consumption on the continent, and greater than 130,000 tonnes of plastic leads to Nigerian waters annually.
If nothing is modified, imports and consumption of plastics will exceed 40 million tonnes by 2030, it warned in a 2020 report.
‘Socio-economic consequences’
Plastic microparticles are ingested by animals and could be present in human beings, stated Temitope Olawunmi Sogbanmu, environmental toxicologist on the College of Lagos, pointing to the “non-degradable” nature of those supplies.
But when the ban on polystyrene and single-use plastic is “good news” for local weather and sustainability, Sogbanmu says she nonetheless worries about “the socio-economic consequences” of this measure on “those whose livelihood depends on this value chain”.
Local weather advantages could also be offset by the affect on distributors of meals and water in plastic baggage in addition to waste collectors who’re a part of the casual financial system in a rustic which is already present process an financial disaster with a tripling of gasoline costs since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu got here to energy in Could.
The annual inflation price stood at virtually 29 % in December.
“There will be more people impoverished and it will become even harder for people to get the basic things,” stated Sogbanmu, who recommends the implementation of “strategic interventions” particularly for the poor.
Environmental activist Oluwaseyi Moejho stated the Lagos authorities took a daring step, however agreed that state officers should ask folks what they need and the way it can help them.
“There was once a Nigeria without plastic, and we survived it. It is very much possible,” she stated. “I understand the convenience of plastics, it’s quite blinding, but convenience at the cost of our lives and future is too expensive.”