By Martha Agas
A non-governmental organisation — Centre For Earth Works(CFEW) — has conducted a clean-up exercise of plastic waste in Mazah community of Jos North Local Government Area, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria.
The exercise which was carried out at Mazah river, was in collaboration with the Association of Informal Waste Pickers in the state and volunteers.
Speaking at the exercise on Friday in Jos, the Team lead of CFEW, Mr Benson Dotun, said that intervention under its Project “Plastic Brand Audit”, was part of its contributions to address environmental problems.
He said the outreach was also organised to mark the World Clean- up day which is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of September.
The day with the theme tagged: “Keeping Corporate Pollutants Accountable”, is celebrated annually since 2018 to clean-up solid waste from rivers, beaches, forests and streets.
He said CFEW is a research driven organisation, which is passionate on securing the earth through empowering communities in knowledge.
“We are working towards empowering our communities, building knowledge-based and building on data to help in solving environmental problems.
“Part of our community engagement activity is the clean-up exercise which we do on a regular basis every year during the world clean up day,” he said
He described the clean-up exercises as critical in documenting major polluters of waste, particularly corporate organisations, to hold them accountable.
“We sort the waste ito categories to know which organisation has the highest plastics disposed.
“We use this to later demand corporate social responsibility from them and also compliance to Extended Producers Responsibility,” he said.
He said that the plastic pollution in Mazah community was as result of waste from Jos metropolis, which flows through its river in to the community.
Dotun explained that plastic pollution is a threat to the aquatic life and also to those whose livehood was dependent on it.
“It is estimated that by 2050 that if nothing is done we will have more plastic in sea and water bodies than fish,” he said.
He urged Plateau people to sort their waste before disposal, saying the action would create a healthy and safety environment.
Speaking at the exercise, the chairman of Jos North Traditional Council and also the Ujah of Anaguta, Pozoh Johnson Magaji, commended the organisation for their intervention.
He thanked the volunteers for partnering with the organisation for the clean-up exercise, saying it would have positive impact in sustaining the environment .
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 35 volunteers participated in the exercise included those from the host community.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
