The ban on usage and distribution of single-use plastics, especially the non-biodegradable Styrofoam, by the Lagos State Government is good. At least, the ban will draw more attention to the damage careless use of plastics causes to both our environment and our health.
However, we plead with the government, at this early stage of the ban, to exercise restraint in dealing with people who may still be using the banned plastics. This is in recognition of the fact that people need time to “use up” the already produced plastics.
It does not make any sense to tell people or companies to dump the unused plastics into waste bins and landfills; does it? If blockade of drainages and littering of the environment are the only reasons the government have for banning the plastics, unused plastics will still do similar harm when they are disposed.
The best way to go, therefore, is for the government to give a reasonable time-frame for the plastics already produced to be used up. This will help reduce the economic catastrophe which some environmental organisations have envisaged from stringent implementation of the ban. Within that time, however, companies should cease from producing new products.
While some advocated for a strategy they called Extended Producer Responsibility, EPR, and a gradual transition period to minimise the economic impact on those within the plastic value chain, others have suggested that for the policy to succeed, there is need to find a balance between environmental objectives and supporting the social and economic well-being of communities.
The danger in using plastics, generally in food packaging and distribution, goes beyond environmental pollution. Evidences from recent research have shown that particles of plastics used in food packaging, distribution or storage, especially under heat, permeate into the foods from where they enter into our blood after we ingest the food or water.
Although the potential health effects are still uncertain, previous researches are said to have found evidence of plastic particles in human blood, lungs, gut, faeces and reproductive tissues. Using laser rays in a more recent study at Columbia University, scientists have been able to detect hundreds of thousands of previously invisible tiny plastic particles in bottled water.
According to the research, on average, each litre of bottled water was found to contain about 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic. And about 90 per cent of those plastic fragments were nanoplastics, which are invisible to the naked eye.
With findings from these researches bordering on health, it will be easier to persuade people to change their habits of improper use of plastics generally, and learn to use safer and more environmental-friendly materials in food packaging, storage and distribution. This is an awareness campaign government should explore.
Also, when it comes to adoption of guidelines for the achievement of a healthy and sustainable environment, experiences have shown that incentives produce better results than imposition of stringent laws. Whenever people are made to see what they stand to benefit from protecting and caring for their environments, they usually comply voluntarily.
Government and corporate organisations can, therefore, offer some rewards to people who use bio-degradable materials or re-usable containers in packing or storing their foods and beverages.