|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
As we commemorate World Environment Day 2025 under the theme “Ending Plastic Pollution,” the big question should be on what it takes to truly end plastic pollution.
The theme challenges us to look beyond litter and clean-ups but challenges us to face the truth of the hidden health crisis caused by plastic pollution. The world produces more than 430 million tons of plastic annually, two-thirds of which are short-lived products that soon become waste, filling the oceans and often working their way into the human and animal food chains.
If you take a walk, you will not fail to notice or interact with plastics. The sad reality is that plastic is everywhere, in our rivers and oceans, our food and air, our homes and even our bodies. The narrative of plastic is cheap needs to be substituted to poisoned ecosystems, hospital bills due to health impacts, and the futures of our children. The question should not just be on what we must do for the planet, but also who we need to protect.
A report by the Centre for International Environmental Law (Plastic and Health: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet) details the devastating effects of plastic at every stage of its life cycle. From extraction of fossil fuels and refining, to manufacturing and waste disposal, plastic exposes communities to chemicals linked to cancer, reproductive harm, neurodevelopmental delays, and more.
At the upstream phase plastic production leads to emission of greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. It is also at this phase that chemicals are added to plastics to give it desirable characteristics such as flexibility, flame resistance or UV resistance. At the midstream phase consumers are often exposed to chemicals used in plastics as they encounter these materials.
After their use, plastics are often discarded causing environmental pollution. At the downstream phase, plastics are often disposed of in open dumpsites where they occasionally burn releasing toxic chemicals, exposing waste pickers and communities living near the dumpsites to these chemicals. Plastics which contain chemicals are then subjected to recycling which reintroduces these chemicals into consumer products.
In February, a study by Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD) revealed the presence of hazardous chemicals in children’s toys. The research paints a grim picture of how Plastic children’s toys sold in local markets were found to contain brominated flame retardants and endocrine-disrupting phthalates which are chemicals banned in many countries.
In another study showed that food items near dumpsites and incineration hotspots are contaminated with Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). In Kenya, environmental sampling was conducted in Ngara, due to the presence of an e-waste dismantling yard, and in parts of Kikuyu, where community cookers convert waste to energy for cooking.
In West Africa, samples were collected from the world’s largest e-waste scrapyard in Agbogbloshie, Ghana, medical waste incinerators in Ghana, and two open burning dumpsites in Cameroon. Free-range chickens served as active samplers of environmental pollutants, as they forage from the soil—ingesting earthworms, insects, and dust—and thereby consume contaminated particles. The eggs laid by these chickens acted as indicators of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) contamination in the environment, offering critical insights into the broader impact on the local food chain and human health. the eggs were analysed for the contamination of dioxins, which are the very toxic byproducts of POPs incineration or reprocessing and recycling technologies.
The plastic crisis is global, but its impacts are unequal as vulnerable populations bear the greatest burden. Globally, waste pickers, informal recyclers, and communities near plastic factories or dumpsites suffer repeated exposure to toxic fumes and hazardous waste.
While they play a critical role as environmental champions, they are always excluded from policy-making processes. As the experts continue to engage in the global plastics treaty negotiations, just transition for the communities must be at the fore front in ensuring that they are not merely consulted but are included as co-governors of policy decisions.
The global plastic treaty remains as the last hope in solving the plastic menace only if it eliminates toxic chemicals in Plastics. Kenya is actively participating in the global plastics treaty negotiations with clear demands calling for a reduction in plastic production, elimination of toxic chemicals in plastics, the need for transparency on the chemicals used in plastics, and the adoption of sustainable alternatives.
The treaty must ensure that hazardous additives like phthalates, MCCPs, and UV stabilizer are phased out in-order to ensure a non-toxic circular economy.
To effectively tackle plastic pollution, democratic governance is needed which involves developing policies and laws in a transparent, inclusive and a participatory manner. It takes actions that ensure accountability and promotes community empowerment in acting against plastic pollution propelling innovation against plastic pollution.
Such empowerment includes integrating the grassroots groups and civil society organisations in crafting policies and laws, designing implementation plans, implementation of the plans, technical support, capacity building and training on best practices, provision of subsidies that increases the uptake of the alternatives to plastics.
While consumers remain at the receiving end, they must have access to information on what’s in the plastics they buy. Labeling hazardous additives and disclosing risks must become global practice as a way of complying with universal safety regulations so as they can make informed decisions while purchasing toys and other products.
Kenya’s has shown leadership in combating plastic pollution by banning plastic carrier bags in 2017 and extended the ban to single-use plastics in protected areas, forests, and beaches in 2020. Kenya further addresses plastic pollution through the Sustainable Waste Management Policy and Act, which requires all producers to bear Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for products placed on the Kenyan market, as well as through waste management regulations.
We cannot recycle our way out of a plastic crisis. We must close the tap of plastic production. Ending plastic pollution isn’t only an environmental imperative. It is a human rights issue. A health crisis and a demand for justice.
Patricia Kombo is a Communications Officer at the Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD).
