The Anambra State Government has urged residents of the state to embrace the opportunity of earning from plastic waste instead dumping them indiscriminately.
The government through the Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA) gave the charge on Thursday.
According to the Head of Enforcement of ASWAMA, Ikenna Nwanegbo during a public sanitation walk in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development, Coca-cola and TechnoServe, through the Nigerian Plastic Solutions Activities in Awka the state capital said that indiscriminate dumping of plastic waste is hazardous to the environment.
He urged residents to sell this plastic waste to ASWAMA and TechnoServe in order to earn money instead of dumping them indiscriminately.
He said: “We are calling on everyone to turn their plastic waste into money by selling them to ASWAMA and TechnoServe rather than disposing of them wrongly or indiscriminately.
“This way, we can achieve a cleaner, greener and sustainable Anambra State as well as make the ecosystem safe for all.”
The Senior Business Adviser at TechnoServe, Franklin Nwarieibe also called upon the public to refrain from disposing of plastics in drains or along roadways stating that such that such disposal of waste affects the ecosystem and causes flooding.
He stated that the purpose of the sensitization walk was to inform the residents about how they could convert their plastic waste into financial gain by bringing it to designated centres where the waste would be collected and compensated.