CAMEROON – Namé Recycling in collaboration with the High Commissions of Canada, and the United Kingdom launched the ‘Walk and Clean’ campaign on 12 May 2023 to reduce plastic pollution in Yaoundé.
The campaign, kicked off by the UK High Commissioner to Cameroon, Christian Dennys-McClure is essentially based on the collection of plastic and aluminium waste in the streets of Yaounde.
To set the tone, dozens of participants at the launch of the ‘Walk and Clean’ campaign walked several kilometers, collecting plastic bottles and packaging, as well as used aluminium products.
Pamela Hay, Trade Advisor at the Canadian High Commission in Cameroon said: “The impact will be the protection of the health of the populations of the city of Yaoundé.
“There is a direct link between waste and diseases like cholera. You can make the environment healthier with this kind of action.”
The waste collected as part of this operation will be taken to the Namé Recycling company’s site in Yaoundé. In this center, the waste will be recycled into pallets, flakes or raw materials for industry.
To take this waste management approach further, a ‘green network’ was launched on 12 May 2023 in Yaoundé.
“Companies and diplomatic missions can join this network which should contribute to the improvement of policies for the protection of the environment,” added Christian.
The initiative comes at a time when the Central African country produces around 600,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year according to estimations.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, plastic waste represents roughly 10 percent of the six million tonnes of waste produced every day in Cameroonian, and its effects are extremely hazardous as some of it still gets burned.
In an attempt to tackle this swelling crisis, the Association for Community Awareness (ASCOA), a charitable non-profit organization, produced and stationed plastic trashcans where communities can sort out waste which in turn will be recycled.
ASCOA believes that fully eradicating plastic pollution in Cameroon is a huge task, as the country lacks adequate legislative policies on plastic pollution and since the government does not penalize public littering or other environmentally harmful acts.
In addition, the organization says that little is being done to ensure that plastic production companies are held accountable for their actions- a task it believes should be taken up by the government.
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