© UN Benin/Yézaël Adoukonou – The UN Resident Coordinator in Benin (in a hood) and his group returning with bags full of plastic bags.
New York, USA, July 10, 2023-/African Media Agency(AMA)/“2,150 Kg of plastic waste collected in one hour” is the estimate made by the Waste and Sanitation Management Company , at the end of the awareness and sanitation campaign recently initiated by the United Nations in the Zongo district of Cotonou, Benin.
This activity, organized within the framework of World Environment Day, saw the participation of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations system, Resident Representatives and staff of various United Nations agencies.
More than 500 people, children, teenagers and adults braved the morning rain of a Saturday in June and answered the call of the United Nations and its various partners to #FightPlasticPollution. The populations of Zongo had come out in large numbers, spontaneously.
“It’s my neighborhood and I have a duty to support this activity because I’m sorry to see so many plastic bags in my neighborhood,” said a resident who spontaneously joined the campaign.
© UN Benin/Nadine Azifan – Schoolchildren from the Zongo district, in Cotonou, Benin, who came to take part in the awareness and clean-up campaign on the occasion of World Environment Day.
Participation of children
Many were the children who accompanied the parents to raise awareness and collect plastic waste. Marie-Anne, 12, who came to the scene with her mother, is already aware of the importance of fighting against plastics, now, to preserve future generations.
“I came to clean the Zongo neighborhood of plastic bags to set an example for children my age to become aware of the danger of plastics, because if the environment is destroyed it will affect us, not only today but above all. when we grow up,” said Marie-Anne, her eyes fixed on the future.
For the Chief of the Zongo District, Sidi Ahmed Saïbou, young people have a fundamental role to play in this fight against plastics, which is why the community has strongly mobilized not only religious leaders and local administrative authorities but also schoolchildren to take part in the campaign. The Head of the Zongo District did not hide his joy at seeing the United Nations identify his district to set an example. It encourages the multiplication of such activities aimed at changing the behavior of populations.
“Yourself, look at the Zongo district, there are too many plastic bags. This action of the United Nations with the partners must be repeated so that the populations integrate that the plastic bags are dangerous for the environment and for health. It is by doing such an activity that our children who are with us today understand the importance of wrestling and will have better reflexes than ours in the years to come,” Mr. Sidi told everyone. the participants.
The same appeal was made by the various authorities present and religious leaders who plan to carry out other future actions to amplify this awareness of the dangers associated with the use of plastic bags.
© UN Benin/Yézaël Adoukonou – A group of participants in the awareness and clean-up campaign on the occasion of World Environment Day in Zongo district, Cotonou, Benin.
Reduce the use of plastic
The Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, Salvator Niyonzima welcomed the Government’s commitment through the Ministry of Living Environment and Transport, but he deplored the fact that the consumption of single-use plastic products remains rooted in habits. .
“Yes, it is possible to end plastic pollution and to get there, we must act together across the entire life cycle of plastic to reduce its use, reuse it, reinvent and rethink our relationship to the environment. plastic for the good of future generations,” he told the media.
To strengthen sanitation actions in the Zongo district and to facilitate waste collection, the United Nations system graciously offered six household trash cans with a capacity of 120 liters and two street trash cans with a capacity of 660 liters and three hundred homemade brooms.
As a reminder, Benin has banned the use of plastic bags since 2017, thus supporting the switch to reusable packaging, according to the law of December 2017 prohibiting production, import and exploitation; marketing, possession, distribution and use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in the Republic of Benin. But in reality this law is not yet applicable on the ground, the use of plastics unfortunately remains a daily reality.
According to a report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) published in 2021, “plastic waste undermines the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG1 on ending poverty, SDG2 on zero hunger, SDG14 on the protection of marine ecosystems and SDG16 on access to justice for all and the establishment of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.
Apart from the awareness and health campaign, the various partners took part in a digital campaign to show the various solutions to plastic bags and to draw the attention of governments to better concern themselves with the fight against plastic bags. Thousands of Internet users have been affected by the digital campaign week.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) for UN Info.
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Source : African Media Agency (AMA)