VIOLET MENGO
Lusaka
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| Danny Phiri |
IT is nearly seven years since Danny Phiri, 34,
migrated from Mufulira to Lusaka for greener pasture.
Danny ekes out a living by selling plastic bags around
Investrust Bank area along Freedom Way in the central business district.
“I make about K400-K500 per day when business is good
and K150 -200 on a slow business day. The money I make is enough to take care
of my needs and those of my family,” says Danny.
He is also able to pay K400 house rentals in Kanyama
where he lives with his wife and their six-year-old son.
After losing his first wife in Mufulira, Danny could
not continue staying in his parents’ in-law house, so he relocated to Lusaka in
search of a better life.
He started selling
plastic bags in 2011 and when his business picked up, he started selling them on
wholesale.
“I buy 250 pieces of black plastics bags at K22 and sell
for K5 a dozen. I also buy 100 pieces of blue plastic pieces at K34 and sell 10
of them for K5,” Danny says.
He also buys large green plastic bags at K85 and sells
them for K6 per five pieces. In addition, Danny deals in much stronger plastic
bags, which he buys for K47 per 100 pieces and sells them at K5 per five
pieces.
According to Danny, the plastic bag business is lucratic
and that’s what his family lives on. His wife though supplements his income
through farming.
However, Danny shares that street vending is no
child’s play.
He leaves home at about 5:00am to buy plastic bags in
bulk, a task he describes as tiresome.
“Sometimes I experience terrible headaches because of
the heavy load I carry all day long. But I have to carry on working because if
I don’t put in my best, I will have no money to live on.
“My left eye is affected because of the heavy load I
have to carry on my head every day,” he says pointing at a blood-stained eye.
What motivates Danny is the readily available market
of his merchandise. The part of town where he operates from is normally congested
with people, but seeing his clients walking away with goods in the plastic bags
that he supplies makes his day.
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| Danny at his trading place. |
However what Danny doesn’t know is that the use of
plastic bags for shopping is a source of concern to the Zambia Environmental
Management Agency (ZEMA) because of the negative impact on the environment.
ZEMA public relations and communication expert Irene
Chipili says plastics increase the risk of flooding, whereas their synthetic
material leave harmful imprints on the environment and on human health too.
“Plastic bags tend to disrupt the environment in a
serious way. They get into soil and slowly release toxic chemicals,” Ms Chipili
said.
ZEMA has drafted the Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR) policy which will compel producers of plastic materials to remove them
from the environment for proper disposal.
Under the EPR policy, producers will have significant responsibility
to ensure that post-consumer products such as plastic bottles are treated or
disposed of properly.
For as long as Zambia does not decree a
ban on the use of plastic bags, people like Danny will continue contributing to
environmental degradation.
The United Nations Environmental Programme
(UNEP) haa declared war against the manufacture and use of plastics because of
their harmful effect on ecosystems both on land and sea.
In a bid to stop plastic pollution, 11
countries in the world have banned the manufacture, use and importation of
plastic bags. On March 15 this year, Kenya announced the ban of plastic bags
which will take effect in the next six months.
Rwanda (2006) and Morocco (2016) have already made
progress in the campaign against plastic pollution by completely banning the
use of plastic bags for commercial and household packaging.
Prior to the ban, it was reported that some 100
million plastic bags are handed out yearly in Kenya by supermarkets alone.
The UNEP says that plastic bags have long been
identified a major cause of environmental damage and health problems. Plastic
pollution is also known to kill birds, fish and other animals that mistake
plastics for food. When discarded in the environment, plastics can cause damage
to agricultural land, pollute tourist sites and provide breeding grounds for
mosquitos that carry malaria.
According to UNEP, plastic bags are the number one
challenge for urban waste disposal, particularly in the poorest communities
where access to disposal systems and healthcare is limited.
And through a new initiative called UN Clean Seas
initiative, launched at the Economist World Ocean Summit last February, the UN
resolved to address the problem of plastic bags.
The campaign urges governments to pass plastic
reduction policies; industry to minimise plastic packaging and redesign
products; and consumers to change their throwaway habits, before irreversible
damage is done to water bodies.
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| Danny. |
While Zambia has not yet reached the position of
banning the use and manufacture of plastic bags, it is expected that ZEMA’s EPR
policy once implemented, will assist in curbing the improper disposal of
plastic bags and pollution thereof.
By so doing, people like Danny who deal in plastic
bags can carry on their businesses without exacerbating plastic pollution.
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