Odusote: Wrong plastic waste, another cause of cancers

Former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and National Coordinator, Digital Peers International, Mrs Odusote Ibukun, has warned Abuja residents of plastic waste disposal and management.

Mrs Odusote warned that improper disposals and management of plastic waste are the major causes of cancers.

She said, “there is a connection between plastic waste and plastic usage in wrong positions that could prove hazardous to health.”

The former Permanent Secretary spoke to the press on the sidelines of the presentation of ideas generated by some youths who participated in the UNDP-SGP project on Effective Plastic Use and Plastic Waste Management in Abuja on Thursday.

“The government is doing a lot in terms of waste management but people don’t even know.

“We want to bring this to the populace for people to understand the danger of plastic waste and that the government could put money into various areas, at least in implementing the projects of these young people.

“I wish everybody would have this understanding. We talk about cancers. There is a connection between plastic waste, and plastic usage in the wrong positions that could have hazards on our health.

“It brings about environmental disasters because when our drainages are closed, what eventually happens is that we have floods and floods are not convenient for any environment.

“So all of us are contributing to our environmental menace and we need to be aware of this. When we’re done with our Pure Water in a sachet, we don’t just throw it out [when we dump] bottles, sachets and other wastes, they go into places that are not right. Let everyone, especially in the FCT separate their wastes and ensure that the plastic wastes are properly covered.”

A staff of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Murtala Umaru, added: “ICT eases the problem of pollution especially when youths are involved.

“We expect the youths to come up with new ideas to strengthen what we already have on ground, especially in terms of waste management.

“The government is doing a lot in terms of waste management. Managing plastic waste is a challenge and we all have to be on board because we’re all the culprits. We all generate this waste.

Also speaking, Adebayor Adedeji, Director in charge of Renewable Energy in the Federal Ministry of Agric and Rural Development said, “We need to be sure that our youths are effectively engaged in the issue of waste management. We have very restless youths that always want to engage themselves.

“The rate at which the plastic waste is being generated in the Federal Capital Territory now is becoming alarming”, he stated.