Earlier this year the Lagos State Government announced its plan to ban Styrofoam and Single use plastics’ usage and distribution in the state. This decision was made in order to stop the detrimental Health and environmental effects that come with the use of Styrofoams and Single Use plastics.
A non-governmental organisation called, Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA) has started an initiative which will help people to better understand the negative effects of the use of Styrofoam and Single use cups and to also provide them with over 500 reusable bottles and plastics. This campaign was carried out as one of the activities that will commemorate the organization’s Resource Centre’s 20th anniversary.
Leading the campaign to the markets, on Thursday, the Executive Secretary of HEDA Resource Centre, Sulaimon Arigbabu,explained that in order for the government policy to be a success, everyone had to be involved, he said, “ let’s have a behavioural change. Let’s have a culture of letting young people market, women, transporters, and different kinds of people know that plastic is an avenue to making money.
“We are not saying don’t use plastic for now. If you must use plastic instead of styrofoam, you have something that can be used, washed, reused, and even changed for other uses.
“We are giving out over 500 water bottles with food. The food is in celebration of our anniversary. But the brain behind this is actually that you can use things and wash them and reuse them.
“That is our culture, we don’t have a culture of waste. We don’t have a culture of using things and just throwing it away. Our culture is to use something, keep it, clean it for another time, and use something in a community knowing that another person will use it. So you use it very well.
“Then once they introduce all this plastic, all this styrofoam, we became irresponsible. Nobody’s taking responsibility for anything. Even children now don’t know how to wash plates because we are bringing them up under a culture of styrofoam. Just use it and throw it away.
“Today in Ikeja where we are, there was flooding and the rain has not yet come. This one is us testing the mic.
“The real rain has not come and Ikeja is flooded, Surulere flooded. And then we went round after the flood subsided and we saw the reason for the flooding. It’s not because the earth can no longer take the rain, it is because of plastic, styrofoam, and different kinds of plastic destroying our environment, blocking our drainages, and making our lives difficult.
“Our markets are flooding, our homes are flooding, our roads are flooding, even our schools are flooding, endangering our children, endangering us too. So, we must say no to single-use plastic.”
Speaking about this initiative, Mrs Abiodun Apena, the Market Head of Ipodo Obada Market in Ikeja, praised the NGO for their efforts in helping to heighten the awareness of the general public about the negative effects of the use of styrofoam and single-use plastics. She reassured the NGO that the market women will comply with the ban and also laid emphasis on the fact that campaigns such as the one organized by HEDA will help to increase their comprehension.