World Environment Day, Ending Plastic Pollution

World Environment Day, Ending Plastic Pollution 

June 5^th Kenya will join the rest of the world to commemorate World Environment day. It is annual global social event geared towards creating environmental consciousness. The day brings together millions of volunteers, governments and organizations from 100 countries and territories to tackle global waste crisis and more sustainable waste disposal options. It’s the largest global platform for environmental public outreach. In Kenya, the event will be marked in Tharaka University and will bring together different actors in Environment sector  

The theme for this year World Environment day is Ending Plastic pollution. Plastic pollution remains the most prominent challenge when it comes to solid waste management. The gazette notice of Kenya plastic bag ban notice No. 2356 in 2017 marked great milestone in addressing the plastics pollution menace. However, despite those efforts, plastics bags remain rampart and key component for both rural and urban pollution stress. The stubbornness of plastic bags pollution can be associated with;

Plastics have been used for industrial and household packaging for decades.  Plastic bags availability will have significant impact to the environment in days to come. In industries plastic bags have formed the core of packaging for the household consumable items. Shopping malls, retail shops and supermarkets are the main distributors of the plastics bags to the end users. The growth of this sector can be attributed to their durability, malleability, light in weight and low cost. Its estimated that by 2050 there will be 12000 million tons of plastic waste accumulation if no action is taken.

Non-Biodegradable Nature of Plastics as Soil Contaminants. Once in the soil, plastic eventually breakdown releasing toxic chemicals which affect soil pH. This leads to reduction of soil productivity. According to the interactive soil quality assessment report 2018, more than 80% of plastics found on marine environments are produced, consumed and disposed of in soils. Plastics can also lead to soil infertility by tempering with moisture and nutrition supplies for the crops resulting to reduced yield.

Plastics Damaging the Environment. Plastic are directly associated with numerous dangers to the Environment. Terrestrial and aquatic animals suffer due to presence of plastic in their food chains. Significant deaths of cows are experienced due to consumption of plastic materials that are spread all over their grazing fields. Once an animal swallow’s plastic, it causes intestinal obstruction which leads to slow death.  The poisoning emanates from chemical components making up the plastic. Plastics don’t readily break down while in the animals’ digestive track, this makes the animal feel full and eventually they succumb to malnutrition or starvation.

Clogging of water and sewerage systems. Once deposited to the environment, plastics find their way to the water supply and drainage systems whereby the clog the supply leading to disconnection of utility supplies and pollution. Their removal is costly in both time and monetary value. Sewage blockage escalates to health threat as other diseases associated with poor sewage disposal crops up.

Aesthetic defloration of the Environment. Poorly disposed plastics create unpleasant scenery. They act as breeding ground for disease transmitting insect such as mosquito as water accumulates in the inside. A vast majority of residents both from urban and rural areas would agree that plastic debris ruin the appearance of habitats.

Conclusion

Despite pollution associated with plastics, if well harnessed, they can offer much need job opportunities while reducing climate change associated effects. Through circular economy, plastics have been recycled to provide much needed alternative fencing and furniture to the rescue of our forests.  Clean natural habitats and green spaces help reduce recovery time and improve healing period of hospital patients. Such environment sustains children concentration and focus, either they reduce crime rates. However, if the environments are littered with plastics and other unpleasant debris, these benefits are highly reduced. With right legislative frameworks and governance, plastics has potential to offer much needed solutions to humanity without resultant pollution menace, this is achievable through partnerships and synergy from all stakeholders.