Food, cup containers pose danger for animals, wildlife
Dr Bontle Mbongwe, Principal Investigator at University Of Botswana’s School Of Public Health has called on Batswana to stop the use of styrofoam or polystyrene cups and food containers. In an address during the cleanest village competitions prize giving ceremony in Ramotswa this past Friday, Dr Mbongwe said the containers commonly used by hawkers and during social events like funerals are made out of materials that are extremely difficult to recycle and often end up as litter in open spaces and rivers.
“Eventually such material breaks down into small toxic pieces that wildlife and domestic animals consume because they can’t distinguish the small pieces from food,” she explained. It is not just animals that are in danger, according to the International Agency on Research on Cancer and the Environmental Protection Agency. Styrofoam is particularly unsafe when heated or used with hot liquid.
In contact with heat, it starts to melt or break down, causing the chemicals, dioxin, benzene and styrene to seep into the liquid or foods. The chemicals found in Styrofoam are possible carcinogens and can cause a variety of cancers, such as breast and prostate cancers.The theme of the event which was part of the commemoration activities for the “Clean up the world campaign” was, ‘Our place…Our planet…Our responsibility.’
Dr Mbongwe said the theme highlighted how local action – taken by every community and volunteer taking part in carrying out clean up the world activity - can have a global impact. Furthermore she urged government to ensure adequate planning and management of waste to prevent it from causing harm to the environment at large and consequently to human health. “Whilst the developed world recycles plastic waste, most of our plastic waste ends up in landfills or scattered about in the environment.
These are all a result of poor practices of solid waste management, waste water (including storm water) collection and treatment, lack of infrastructure and awareness of the public at large about the consequences of their actions,” she said.Waste management responsibility, she stressed, was more than putting up waste facilities or bins in public places. “More importantly it is about providing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate effective management of waste in individual households,” said Dr Mbongwe.She said there had to be a paradigm shift and awareness creation for people to know that if waste was not managed properly, it could pose health challenges for them.“I am confident that the availability of easily accessible practical infrastructure for public use coupled with comprehensive educational interventions and the enforcement of relevant laws and by-laws form the bedrock of a sustainable approach to waste management in Botswana,” she concluded.