Lagos ban on styrofoam and plastics brings applause and concern | Environment

From trash-strewn pavements to road 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 might quickly change if the native Lagos State authorities manages to implement its latest formidable ban on using polystyrene and single-use plastics.

The announcement of the ban on styrofoam packing containers and single-use plastics, “with instant impact”, by Tokunbo Wahab, the state’s commissioner for atmosphere, took many Lagosians without warning, particularly those that earn a residing within the casual sector.

“Styrofoam packing containers 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 doesn’t make sense to place meals inside poly bag [plastic bag],” stated one other meals vendor, Funmilayo Oresanya, 43.

For environmentalists, the Lagos State transfer was a welcome one that would not solely minimize down on waste but additionally cut back carbon emissions.

However different critics questioned the feasibility of an instantaneous ban on such generally used merchandise, particularly for companies.

“It’s too sudden,” stated Kehinde Bakare, 61, a polystyrene field vendor. “There are individuals which are utilizing it as a way of residing so what’s going to they be doing? How in regards to the manufacturing individuals?” she stated, asking that they be provided “substitutes”.

Nigerian fast-food chain Meals Ideas, recognized for its widespread eating places Rooster Republic, PieXpress, and The Chopbox, “applauded” the measure, saying in an announcement it was “starting its transition” to finish polystyrene packing containers and inspiring its clients “to come back with their very own containers”.

Motion plan

Folawemi Umunna, co-founder of the NGO Initiative for Local weather and Ecological Safety, stated the choice to eradicate non-biodegradable supplies was optimistic if Lagos State correctly manages its motion plan.

On his X account, Wahab revealed a video on Tuesday displaying well being staff finishing up checks within the metropolis.

In 2019, Nigerian MPs handed a legislation banning plastic baggage however it hit a lifeless finish as a result of it didn’t full its legislative course of. Different African international locations have additionally tried to ban plastic baggage with blended success.

However in Lagos, a megacity of greater than 20 million inhabitants, the problem of waste administration is essential as garbage often 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 response to the German Heinrich-Boell Basis, representing 17 p.c of the whole plastic consumption on the continent, and greater than 130,000 tonnes of plastic results in 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 penalties’

Plastic microparticles are ingested by animals and may 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 “excellent news” for local weather and sustainability, Sogbanmu says she nonetheless worries about “the socio-economic penalties” of this measure on “these whose livelihood is determined by this worth chain”.

Local weather advantages could also be offset by the impression on distributors of meals and water in plastic baggage in addition to waste collectors who’re a part of the casual economic 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 Might.

The annual inflation price stood at nearly 29 p.c in December.

“There shall be extra individuals impoverished and it’ll change into even tougher for individuals to get the essential issues,” 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 individuals what they need and the way it can help them.

“There was as soon as a Nigeria with out plastic, and we survived it. It is extremely a lot attainable,” she stated. “I perceive the comfort of plastics, it’s fairly blinding, however comfort at the price of our lives and future is simply too costly.”