The SDD-UBIDS Campus Chapter of the Green African Youth Organization (GAYO), a youth-led gender-balanced advocacy group that focuses largely on environmental sustainability and community development, has held community engagement to sensitize folks to the dangers of open burning and plastic pollution.
Held at Tanina community in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region on March 03, 2023, the sensitization was anchored on a focus dubbed “community endemic open burning and plastic pollution” and formed part of the second edition of the GAYO’s Anti-Incineration and Plastic Pollution Campaign project.
Addressing the chiefs and elders of the community, Miss Fareeda Amankwa, a member of the GAYO Eco Club, SDD-UBIDS Campus Chapter, highlighted open incineration as the burning of garbage in a manner that combustion products are emitted directly into the atmosphere without passing through any permitted air pollution control system.
She noted that the practice of open incineration has dire consequences on the environment and the health of the people.
She said the practice releases harmful toxins and pollutants into the atmosphere which mar air quality, and in turn, leads to respiratory diseases as well as climate change concerns.
The GAYO team implored the people to adopt new ways of burning that are environmentally friendly and climate-sustaining.
The team also admonished the people of the community to devise ways of turning their plastic wastes into useful materials and thus, demonstrated some of the ways for the people to emulate.
The team demonstrated an exemplary attitude towards plastic recycling by wearing eco bags recycled from plastic materials and thus, encouraged the people not to litter the environment with plastics but consciously recycle them for use.
The chief of the Tanina community, Naa Sadik Gbele expressed interest in the campaign and urged his elders and community members to take responsibility as agents of change in ensuring a plastic-free and open-incineration-free community.
He, therefore, gave his word to allow the GAYO team to undertake a door-to-door sensitization on the subject of open incineration and plastic pollution to sensitize the people to the multiple uses of plastics and the dangers of plastic littering.
At the Tanina Basic School, the team encouraged the pupils and staff to store plastic materials instead of throwing them away indiscriminately, adding that the GAYO team would always come to pick the materials up when notice is given and that the school can earn some money out of it when the team buys them.
The headteacher of the school also urged the pupils to adhere to the advice and promised that he would always call the GAYO team to pick the materials up when collected.
The chief, elders and people of the community expressed appreciation to the GAYO team for the gesture and assured the team of their maximum cooperation.
To this end, the chief told the team to find an appropriate day to come back to the community when he would organize a general clean-up exercise to get plastics rid of the community.