PLASTIC ‘PORTUGESE MAN O’ WARS’ AT SEA

It was a bright sunny day, the sort of weather that made a trip to the beach inviting so off I went with a friend to enjoy the beautiful scenery and breeze from the ocean. Times have changed since the last time I went to La Pleasure Beach. Upon arrival I observed they had more restaurants and bars, interspaced with khebab vendors, all over the long stretch of beach providing good food and drinks.  We finally found a great spot to do the things we had intended. Everything was going perfectly well but for the occasional interruption by the beads or adornment vendors, photographers as well as tattoo artists. Well, I would have gladly accepted their offers if they were for free.

We then decided to take a walk close to the shores so we could feel the waves hit our legs; it was going great until I felt something latch onto my foot that made my heart jump into my mouth and I let out a scream. It felt as though a Portuguese Man O’ War (a sea creature that resembled a jelly fish) had grabbed my legs! Only to realize it was a polythene bag clinging to my foot like a leech.  Well, that was a huge relief to me as the bag could not bite but a closer look into the sea revealed more plastic water bottles, bottles of soft drinks, food containers (takeaway / to-go boxes) among many other trash were floating in the sea. Let’s just say that section of the beach literally appeared to be a dump field and though other ends of the sea seemed perfectly fine without traces of any trash, there were high chances the pollutants from the waste we were seeing at our end would be getting to those swimming at the other side.

There have been countless debates over the inefficiencies of our city’s waste management system; though these debates have made huge headlines in our print, electronic media, documentaries among many others, it seems our dear city is losing the battle of tackling this issue. How many television commercials haven’t I seen over the years to enlighten people about littering yet you find them doing it and when you reproach them some tell you “What is Zoom Lion there for? / Do you work for Zoom Lion? / That’s why Zoom Lion is being paid to clean the city”.

Believe you me; this is not what Accra used to be. Until the 1990’s where we had the sudden explosion of plastic bags, most people shopped with cane woven baskets. Our food vendors used to serve food in those beautiful leaves which even added extra flavor to the food until they started using those take away / to-go boxes. And because the leaves were biodegradable, even when people failed to drop them in litter bins, those leaves were able to biodegrade on their own. Now you walk all over the city and feel as though you are being buried alive by plastic waste. One reason I believe we are losing the fight against this menace is the business interests of the producers. There have been times where suggestions have been made to stop the production of sachet water and plastic shopping bags and probably revert back to what we used to use but these suggestions have been vehemently opposed by these producers because they argue their businesses create jobs hence closing them will result in unemployment among the youth.

I think this problem is also attitudinal because there are some people out there who, so far as the waste is not on their compounds, they are good to go; meaning, they wouldn’t mind sweeping off the dirt and disposing it in the open near their streets. Somewhere along the line people in this city have lost their sense of responsibility towards our environment and it’s very, very sad. I seriously do not know where or how we got to this because I grew up in a time where we used to have ‘communal labour’ in our communities in which during one or two Saturdays of a month everyone gathers to clean around the neighborhoods. These days, people simply do not care in our city and it’s such a shame. Go to our rural areas or country sides and you see something different. Those places are very clean. While others will argue that the bigger the city and greater the population the harder it is to maintain I disagree because you go to cities in different parts of the world or even on our own continent and you realize they’ve been able to manage their waste efficiently. You would even wonder if those cities had things made out of plastic there.

We need change and I think it must start from an individual level. If you are reading this article and in the habit of throwing waste in the streets, please make a personal resolution to stop it. I also think it’s about time our city authorities enforced fines against persons caught littering and also more bins should be placed at vantage points. Yes, Zoom Lion or any of our waste management agencies are there to clean up the mess, but it does not mean you should consciously litter. And to our waste management agencies, we know you are doing your best because I see some of your workers in the streets doing their jobs and I congratulate you all, but please there is more to be done. I’m saying this because there have been instances where people’s trash are left uncollected for weeks which poses health hazards compelling those living close to beaches to resort to dumping into the sea. And if producers of plastic products in our country are not already being made to contribute their part in helping resolve this issue, I would like to see more regulations introduced in that direction because so far as they are the ones producing, they should equally be involved in cleaning up the mess.

At the rate we are going, if we do not take proactive measures in tackling this issue, a time will come where we wouldn’t be able to see a single sand under our feet but be walking on plastic-carpeted streets and where we would see more plastic ‘Portuguese Man O’ War’ clinging to our feet on our beaches.