Environment......Pure water satchets!
Million around the world still lack access to safe water and improved sanitation. In Nigeria, water shortage as well as access to safe water is a daily issue that threatens the health and living standards of our teeming population of over 144 million.
Drinking water in Nigeria and Ghana comes in plastic bags and is usually referred to as ''SACHET WATER''. A booming business that has thrived over time as it sells for #5 or even #10 depending on the temperature......
These sachets are all over the country these days...Majority of house holds consume these sachet bags...,our drainage's are blocked. Today,''pure water'' has become a menace. People buy these sachets of water,drink the content and DROP!......Its normal to even find people throwing the sachets through the windows of cars and commercial buses. Others drop it on the road as they walk pass....nobody cares!
What can be done to curb this menace? We all must start caring about our environment..Remember that these blocked drainage constitute a breeding site for mosquitoes. How about the heavy rains that has rendered people homeless due to the unavailability of a good drainage system where the water can be channeled to the nearest lagoon? The flooded areas our cars would have to go through? The effect this dirty water would have on the underlay of your car,compressors,bearings or Tyre wheels. We are all affected by this menace,one way or the other. We must all work hard towards achieving an environment void of this menace and geared towards sustainable development....
The good news is this..............Here in Lagos State, the present government has instituted a ''BUY BACK'' policy,where these empty sachets are sold back to the government at good prices...great!! So you can actually earn a living by taking these sachets in a good quantity back to them for a fee.
So what do say to the man walking down the street who is just about to drop a sachet of water to the ground?..............*winks*
Living Healthy!!!!
I hope this buy back policy continues. i remember when i was a little boy, there was this buy back policy on empty raid cans which was sold for 30kobo per can. it only lasted for a few months and they stopped.
ReplyDeleteIs the policy actually real? Or it's only a smokescreen spoken to impress international environmentalists and then the status quo continues? In my opinion, there is urgent need to set up a correct recycling company to buy back these nylon waste all over the place. Good piece though.
ReplyDeleteThis is what the Minister of Environment should be preaching instead of her obscure idea of banning satchet water in its entirety despite the job opportunities in that sector.
ReplyDeleteYour piece is rich but people will want to know more about this buy back company to achieve better result. Keep it up Slyvia
I must commend your effort on this write up Nneka. I just hope the "BUY PACK" policy pays off. Apparently, the Government is doing its best on "waste management" but, there is still loop holes in its management practices(this i observed during a research on " Industrial Solid Waste Management Practices" here in lagos some years ago). It will surprise you that we don't have any functional "Sanitary Landfill" in this country. Instead, we have "dump sites" in place of that. If the Government is sincere, they should absorb the informal sector(made up of the Urban Poor) in it's waste management practices and see what happens in the nearest future.
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We have a Berkey water filter and love it...even though we also love our well water...we just thought we should be prepared. :)Drinking Water System
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