CAMEROON – Officials in Cameroon say plastic bag pollution in the country has doubled in the past four years to 600,000 tonnes, harming the environment and animal and human health.
The central African country in 2012 banned the production, sale, and use of non-biodegradable plastic bags, but huge quantities are smuggled in from neighboring Nigeria.
Like many African countries, Cameroon faces many obstacles in managing plastic waste. Firstly, the lack of political will and finance restrains the investment in waste collection and recycling infrastructure.
Without the proper infrastructure, waste management puts all the weight on consumers. 58% of consumers just litter the waste. Finally, many developed countries try to smuggle their plastic waste into developing countries.
As a result, plastic waste continues to accumulate. It blocks drains, river channels, mangrove roots… The consequences become increasingly dramatic.
After the ban on non-biodegradable plastics bag in 2012, the country recorded a drop in pollution until 2019.
Between 2019 and 2022, the country recorded 600,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year, according to the government.
The rise is partly due to illegal smuggling from Nigeria daily, explains Abel Foncha Ghogomu, the highest government trade official in Cameroon’s Northwest region.
“We have not been able to stop the plastics from entering from the neighboring countries. The porous nature of the region has been the problem we are facing,” he said.
The second part is the illegal production of millions of bags each year in Cameroon, coupled with consumer throw-away behavior.
Civilians using the bags say the government did not start producing other types of biodegradable food packaging materials in partnership with private companies as it had promised.
The government acknowledges the packaging materials it is producing do not meet national needs yet and is encouraging civilians to use leaves.
Meanwhile, a report, attempting to explain the relationship between plastic pollution and floods, estimates that 218 million of the world’s poorest people are at risk from more severe and frequent flooding caused by plastic waste.
Researchers from Resource Futures, an environmental consultancy, and Tearfund, an international Christian charity, found that communities in Cameroon, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Bangladesh and Indonesia had experienced more severe flooding due to plastic waste blocking drainage systems in the last few years.
In these communities, plastic waste was a “risk multiplier” for flooding, reports the Guardian.
Rich Gower, a senior economist and policy associate at Tearfund, said: “What we are saying is that plastic pollution affects the poorest, most marginalized communities the most.
“We’ve seen it with plastic burning, and we are now seeing it with flood risk. These communities bear the brunt of plastic pollution.”
Plastic pollution poses more risks to humans, animals and the environment. Thus, a collective effort is needed from formulating tight policies to behavioral change to beat the menace in the entire world.
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