The industrial revolution which took place from the 19th century and in particular the use of fossil fuels, in addition to having allowed and still allows the growth of economies through the development in several sectors of profitable activities thanks in particular to oil-derived products in Africa in particular, has also generated an ecological disaster on an even more considerable scale on a global scale.
The continued presence of plastic waste across the globe is worrying. “Marine biodiversity is the first victim of plastic pollution in the oceans." All ecosystems are impacted. In Africa and Cameroon in particular, they have become invasive to the point of having colonized the soil in an indifference which denotes a carelessness linked to ignorance of the very disastrous impacts of this waste on the environment.
Plastic packaging in the daily lives of Cameroonians
Like everywhere in the world, plastic packaging is essential in the daily lives of Cameroonians. Everything is packaged to allow a pleasant service which unfortunately is the cause of an environmental disaster which results in part from a lack of awareness which promotes irresponsible attitudes which result in a scattered presence of plastic waste in space. In fact, plastics from the markets end up in the streets, alleys, gutters, swamps, soils, and finally in regulatory filing locations, the insufficiency of which leads to the creation of alternative means prohibited, from where plastics waste passes to complete their journey in soil where they will remain for hundreds of millions of years.
Cameroon's natural landscape is infested with plastic waste. In the Sudano-Sahelian environment, for example, they are found in the soil both in the dry season and in the rainy season. Domestic animals consume them like herbs. By trying to remove them, you will notice that each of the surface layers of earth is colonized by this plastic waste which has been deposited there successively over time to the point where the phenomenon has become normal.
In humid environments the trend is the same. Those which are no longer plastic packaging but plastic waste under the effect of wind, precipitation, heat end up on the trees, in the ground, gutters, drains, streets, alleys, rivers and even lakes thus accentuating the processes of erosion and flooding caused in part by uncivil and unsanitary attitudes.
The satisfaction of a need or service is a detail to which consumers attach considerable importance in relation to the final destination of a useful container which has become waste which can be disposed of as we want, where we want and when we want and without run the risk of being sued or even blamed.
At the packaging stage, the need is great but at the waste stage, the concern is extreme. In developing countries like Cameroon, to respond to the problems of populations by offering them more financially accessible items, several companies opt for lower-cost products in plastic packaging.
Anyone who cannot, for example, obtain an item that costs between 300 and 400 F CFA and more, can obtain it in a bag of 50 F CFA. The production of prices has been adjusted at the level of the wallet of the average Cameroonian and even the most deprived. Quality doesn't matter; as long as it is accessible we buy, we consume and we get rid of the packaging which becomes another social problem even more dangerous than the first.
Plastic and environmental and health degradation
Lower-cost plastic packaging has invaded the markets. Their invasive nature results in a use whose consequences are palpable on the environment and human health. Certain dishes are cooked in plastics, consumed in these same plastics, and thrown back into nature. Indeed, it is easier to sell a product at a lower cost to consumers who have little concern about packaging that goes against traditional cooking methods with natural products such as banana leaves for example which have no negative impact on the soil even if they are dumped on nature arbitrarily. Plastic waste from packaging of the same name contributes to the change in traditional habits to the point of having created a dependence with which it is difficult to break because of an addiction to a lower cost product whose instant usefulness always leads to a degradation which extends over several centuries.
A product derived from petroleum, plastics are essential tools just like the fossil energy from which they come. So useful and essential that many people take advantage of it to smuggle. Indeed, if the management of household waste itself is already problematic, that of plastics resulting from contraband makes this equation even more difficult because it is no longer just a question of spontaneous dumps and the insufficiency of regulatory dumps, but of even more considerable environmental and health damage.
Specialists identify two main types of plastic packaging: biodegradable and non-biodegradable. The former are more environmentally friendly and allow reuse not only by the consumer but also the recyclers in order to produce the same product that was used so as not to allow it to remain forever in the environment unnecessarily. The use is not unique and is part of a chain which allows more rational management of plastic waste which is highly developed in countries which have very rigorous policies regarding the management of household waste. The consumer is associated with the management of a problem and the prosperity of an industry whose employees do not necessarily need to do sorting work since the consumer has already taken care of doing so.
The second category of plastics is the one that causes the most problems, particularly in Africa. It is that of non-biodegradable, that is to say, those not produced with the aim of being used for a long time but to be used exactly as a disposable product which will last in the living environment of Men thus causing flooding, the development of foul odours and diseases such as malaria and cholera.
The complexity of management is such that local residents get rid of what they no longer want in the rivers. In September 2021, the regional environment delegation of Northern Cameroon had to destroy 42.5 tons of non-biodegradable plastic packaging in Garoua (Capital of North Region of Cameroon [mediaterre.org]). But unfortunately the phenomenon continues to persist and floods the markets and others contraindicated places. In addition, due to the insufficiency of containers intended to receive household waste, the nauseating odours sometimes force local residents to carry out incinerations which do not respect any ecological standards.
Consumer Responsibilities
The problem of managing plastic packaging in particular and plastic waste in general has been added to the difficult management of household waste in Cameroon.
Banned packaging floods the markets with total indifference. Plastic water and juice bottles, more financially accessible or not, are thrown away anywhere after use while waiting for the State to take its responsibilities on a national domain which belongs to the people.
With breakable bottles there is not the same problem. Everything is really well managed because they are not only reusable but also because to obtain a new drink, you must have an empty bottle which will not end up in nature unlike to plastic packaging and bottles. One solution would be to put in place strict measures prohibiting the throwing of plastic waste in the open air and depositing it individually or in community in specific points set up for this purpose and whose contents are intended for recycling against a good amount of money or not. But what is Cameroon’s recycling capacity?
According to the national report on the situation of plastics in Cameroon dating from 2023 and carried out by the Cameroonian NGO Association of Women for an Organic Planet, the rate of revaluation (recycling) in Cameroon is of the order of 1% or 99% of waste which remains in the environment out of the millions of tons of plastics produced each year.
The reuse of bottles to resell other products inside is commendable but according to experts, it is not advisable to use these bottles for a long time and it would be better to use gourd because over time bacteria accumulate on the material used in the manufacture of plastics bottles. They must therefore be recycled. But as Cameroon's recycling capacity is less, we can only witness spontaneous deposits which encourage spontaneous collections not necessarily to be recycled but rather to be reused and thrown back into the streets.
The State is everyone. It is a group of responsible individuals with mutual and distinct responsibilities in the management of public affairs. Just as the government and parliamentarians have their responsibilities to fulfil, the people also have theirs. Each firm measure taken by the government is always the consequence of an observation which requires appropriate measures to be accompanied by active collaboration of the populations or more precisely of the consumers who do not exert any pressure in terms of demands for quality of the packaging probably because governments themselves exert no pressure in this direction. As a result, non-biodegradable plastic packaging continues to appear on the markets.
Cameroonians do not have a culture of biodegradable single-use plastic. As long as the ban is not followed by consumer approval, or a commitment to put an end to this situation, the scale of the concern will continue to increase over time. Everyone will continue to behave as if nothing had happened while the negative impacts of these petroleum-derived products produced for some under illicit conditions, will continue to have a serious impact on the health of living beings in the short and especially in the long term.
In a country mainly dominated by the activities of the informal sector within which illicit activities of smuggling and counterfeiting are hidden, nothing can be completely eradicated without the active involvement of consumers. Some have made it their business to make money and allow their customers to offer “quality service.” But at what cost?
If throwing garbage in front of private property can be considered an act of provocation in increasingly individualistic societies, what about this packaging which is thrown anywhere after use? As long as we are healthy we can afford to do what we want! As long as we have the means to obtain certain products, we can afford to throw the packaging anywhere. But when packaging ends up in the nooks and crannies of our cities and causes water-borne diseases, we will blame government who certainly have their share of responsibility but without asking ourselves what we can do at our level? Consumers also pay the price for their own turpitudes.
The resurgence of plastic packaging on the streets as well as waste is the consequence of an approval that encourages a lack of responsible attitudes. If it is not the consumer who will completely eradicate plastic waste from our cities, he can still contribute by imposing censorship measures on himself because he also has his share of responsibility in this unsanitary situation which persists despite the numerous measures put in place to reduce the extent of this phenomenon in society.
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