World Earth Day: Group Moves To Save Nigeria, Others From Losing $70bn To Plastic Pollution

As the world mark this year’s United Nations International Mother Earth, ECO2RUPPERS Africa has put in place measures aimed at saving Nigeria and other African countries a whopping sum of US$70 billion from the impact of plastic pollution.

According to the Lead Sustainable Development Partner for Africa, Mr. Victor Wilkinson, in a statement, the outfit would engage 250 million volunteers across all 54 African countries to ensure a plastic pollution-free future.

The initiative is billed to train, empower and deploy eco-conscious youths in the largest green citizen action campaign in Africa.

The Eco-Marshalls Project is structured to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) decade of action with women and youths at the frontline of climate-smart and resilient economies.

According to the non-profit organisation Earth Action, the global plastic overshoot day for 2024 is projected to occur on September 5, marking the point when plastic waste produced surpasses the planet’s waste management systems.

In alignment with the global call to action, ECO2RUPPERS Africa called on individuals, businesses, and governments to “Act Your Part Against Plastic Pollution in Africa” and build a healthier, plastic pollution-free future for generations to come.

ECO2RUPPERS Africa contended that a shift to a circular economy, especially in the global South can reduce the volume of plastics entering oceans by over 80 per cent by 2040; reduce virgin plastic production by 55 per cent; save governments US$70 billion by 2040; reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent; and create 700,000 additional jobs.

Decrying the impact of plastic pollution on the wellbeing of the citizenry on the African continent, the group noted that the “Mother Earth Day” themed “Planet vs. Plastics,” highlighted the critical need to address the escalating crisis of plastic waste that threatens both human health and environmental stability.

It warned that as the impacts of plastic production and pollution on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution were a catastrophe in the making.

ECO2RUPPERS Africa further stated that exposure to plastics can harm human health, potentially affecting fertility, hormonal, metabolic and neurological activity, and open burning of plastics contributes to air pollution.

It projected that by 2050 greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic production, use and disposal would account for 15 per cent of allowed emissions, under the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C (34.7°F).

“More than 800 marine and coastal species are affected by this pollution through ingestion, entanglement, and other dangers. Also, about 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flow annually into oceans and this is expected to triple by 2040,” it noted.

“The African continent generates an average of 19 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, out of which 17 million tonnes (almost 90%) are mismanaged. On an average, plastic accounts for 13 per cent of all the municipal solid waste generated in the continent, and a mere 4 per cent of this is recycled.

“The World bank reports that if trends remain the same, the continent is projected to end up with 116 million tonnes of plastic waste annually by 2060, six times more than its current output.

“There is a Plastic Overshoot Day for every country, every year. Alarmingly, by March of this year, approximately 45 out of Africa’s 54 countries (over 84%) had already reached their Plastic Overshoot Day for 2024. Plastic pollution is an environmental crisis – a crisis rooted in the imbalance between the volumes of plastic that are produced and used, and the world’s ability to manage those volumes when they become waste,” it stated.