Solid waste hazardous
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday September 27, 2018 15:23
Addressing the media at the UN Habitat Day Commemoration press briefing held at the ministry’s headquarters yesterday, Seretse said this year the theme was ‘Municipal Solid Waste Management’. He explained that the issue of solid waste threatening both the environment and public health was further worsened by rapid urbanisation and economic development. He added that improving solid waste management was critical for sustainable human settlement development.
“This year’s World Habitat Day encourages government and stakeholders to implement concrete initiatives that will ensure sustainable waste management. This is crucial in achieving some of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG) 11, which envisions cities and human settlements that are inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and SDG 12, which encourages sustainable production and consumption and also calls for environmentally sound management of all wastes through prevention, recycling, reuse and reduction of food waste,” he said.
Seretse explained that as countries become more developed, the kind of waste produced becomes more hazardous and toxic, hence the need for safe waste disposal practices. He highlighted that it was therefore crucial to create a balance between economic growth and the rate of urbanisation as well as environmental sustainability.
Highlighting the country’s challenges, he pointed out that they did not have a national database on volumes of waste generated, which made it difficult to track if they were making progress in reducing waste generated. He also added that due to financial, technical capacity issues, waste management services offered by local authorities was inadequate. He said according to the 2011 population census, only 76% of households in cities received regular waste collection, while in rural areas it was about 14%.
“There is a growing concern of littering, burning of waste, indiscriminate disposal of waste along roadsides and illegal dumping of waste. Such practices pose a health risk as they affect ambient air and water quality. Some waste finds its way into storm water drains, resulting in clogging and flooding. Clearly, the need to improve this situation for the health and wellbeing of people and their habitat cannot be overemphasised,” he noted.
For her part, the director at the department of waste management and pollution control, Oarabile Serumola said Botswana was experiencing increasing waste growth. She explained that that was caused by population growth. Serumola pointed out that in the past the only waste materials that were common in the country were agricultural waste products compared to a diverse solid waste materials caused by the intense development including industrial entities.
She said commercial and industrial entities produced highly hazardous waste products that were harmful to both humans and animals. She also pointed out that their efforts to manage solid waste through different initiatives such as landfills were not enough as they failed as a country to manage them.
“In other ways to manage our waste, the government has developed a Waste Management Policy that is awaiting Cabinet approval. However, the government alone cannot win this battle of waste. We need the public to assist us to dispose their waste materials in an acceptable manner that will provide safety for all. We are all responsible for the waste we generate,” she said.
Serumola also pointed out that irresponsible disposal of waste such as dumping waste in undesignated areas and burning of some waste materials had its own consequences. She explained that many cancer diseases were caused by burning of some waste materials, which at a later stage affected those who were affected by the fumes of such waste materials. She pleaded with the society to think before taking such drastic measures which might later affect them and their loved ones.
The national commemoration will be held in Gantsi on October 9, 2018.