A Professor of Environmental Management and Control at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Christian Madu has urged the federal and state governments, including Nigerians, to take decisive actions on tackling the environmental impact of used nylons and plastic bottles in the country.
Prof. Madu made the call at the weekend in Nsukka, Enugu state, adding that the ubiquitous littering of used nylons and plastic bottles nationwide has a long term effect on the environment.
He said nylon and plastic bottles are synthetic polymers composed of polyamides, which are silk-like thermoplastics made from petroleum and they are inorganic and non-degradable materials.
He noted that used nylons and plastic bottles remained the remote causes of some environmental challenges.
The varsity don explained that the indiscriminate use of nylons and plastic bottles would continue to cause the nation and its citizens huge environmental, agricultural and health challenges.
According to him, “the present problem of our soil not producing bumper harvests and micro-organisms not aiding the soil to perform its natural function can be attributed to millions of buried nylons and plastic bottles.
“Some of these millions of inorganic materials are either buried under or at the low soil level of the ground; while over the years they had continued to discharge their harmful petroleum substances on the soil as they reacted to atmospheric heat.
“They are also polluting underground water, which most people use as wells or boreholes scattered all over the country and might be the lead cause of relatively new and complicated sicknesses affecting our population,” he said.
Madu noted that flash flooding most people complain about in well-planned cities has its root in “millions of these used nylons and plastic bottles finding their way into the open drainage system, otherwise known as gutters.
“If one takes a patient look and flow of water, you find out that used nylons and plastic bottles in large quantities have blocked the drains.
“When the drains are blocked, naturally, water will find its way and over-flow leading to flash flooding of major roads within few minutes of a downpour in major or planned cities,” he said.
Prof. Madu called on stakeholders to support a research into a more environmentally friendly system of packaging.
“The research must seek to find organic and bio-degradable alternatives to these inorganic petroleum materials, especially the packaged nylon sachet water people drink which end up as used-nylon wastes that find their way into drainage systems, thereby constituting the worst menace of our generation,” he said.
