Climate change experts have advocated a total ban on the production of single use plastics to mitigate the effect of climate change.
The experts made the call during a webinar titled “Embracing Zero Waste: A Path to Addressing Climate Change” organised by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) on Wednesday.
In her presentation, Ms Mariel Vilella, Director, Global Climate Programme Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), said plastic production and pollution resulted in greenhouse gas emissions at each stage of its lifecycle.
Vilella stressed the need for effective waste management policies in Africa, which would promote zero and reduced plastic waste.
Generally, she said the waste sector was the third largest source of anthropogenic methane that contributed roughly 20 per cent of all such emissions and had 82 times more warming power than carbon dioxide.
This, she said, made it an extremely dangerous greenhouse gas and a super pollutant.
“Seventy percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from product lifecycles – the stuff we extract, transport, and use and how we waste it,” she said.
The climate change expert further explained that even incinerators (conversion of waste to energy) as well as open burning were false solutions to climate change as against the belief in some quarters.
These two measures, she said, converted virtually all carbon in the waste to carbon dioxide, which immediately emit it to the atmosphere.
She identified, however, source reduction of waste as the best way to reduce greenhouse emissions, especially for food and plastic, saying the method was better than recycling.
“Source reduction is a critical strategy for addressing food waste, which currently comprises one-third of all food production and is responsible for 10 per cent of global GHG emissions.
“Source reduction is especially important for plastic, most of which is not recyclable and whose production is doubling every 20 years.
“With even greater ambition, source separation of all organic discards, coupled with composting, bio-stabilisation, and biologically active cover for landfills and dumps can reduce solid waste methane emissions by as much as 95 per cent by 2030.’’
She observed that composting was another climate game changer and the most readily implementable treatment option for organic waste.
“Source-separated collection and treatment of organics can reduce methane emissions from landfills.
“These reductions reach 82 per cent, even with only moderate ambition”.
Studies, she added, had found zero waste to offer real solutions to the climate crisis.
In his opening remark, Dr Chima Williams, Director of the ERA/FoEN said a lot of policies that would outlaw single use plastics were needed in the global south.
The call for ban, he said, was necessary due to the problems associated with the use of the product such as flooding that always lead to perennial loss of lives and properties in the developing countries.
Mr Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev) Nigeria,advocated policies that would fill the gap between waste management vis-a-vis plastic waste management in the country.
He suggested cross-fertilisation of ideas across Africa on how to leverage on zero waste to address climate crisis.
Single-use plastic products (SUPs) are used once, or for a short period of time, before being thrown away.
The impacts of this plastic waste on the environment and our health are global and can be drastic.
Single-use plastic products are more likely to end up in our seas than reusable options.
