Speech of
the Hon. Devanand Virahsawmy, GOSK, FCCA
Minister of
Environment & Sustainable Development
on the occasion of the
Coastal East Africa
Solid Waste Management Workshop
on
Monday 10 September 2012 at 09.15 hrs
Sugar Beach Resort, Wolmar, Flic en Flac
,
Hon. Hervé Aimée, Minister of Local Government & Outer Islands
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government & Outer Islands
Representative of the United States Embassy
Representative of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen
I would like, first of all, to thank my colleague Honourable Hervé Aimée,
Minister of Local Government & Outer Islands, for inviting me to address this
audience. It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be with you for the opening of
this 4-day regional workshop on “Coastal East Africa Solid Waste
Management”. I would also like to thank the Embassy of the United States and
the United States Environmental Protection Agency for extending their
collaboration to sub-Saharan Africa in the field of solid waste management
which is now a pressing environmental concern in a fast urbanizing Africa.
To-day’s topic is of utmost importance not only for big cities around the world
but also for small island states like Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles and
Zanzibar, where space is scarce, and where the recycling culture is just
beginning to emerge. In fact, solid waste management is one of the most
serious environmental issues which, if left unchecked, will have adverse
impacts on the environment, on human health and on the economic well-being
of many countries. The tourism sector for example, which is heavily dependent
on a clean environment, can suffer the negative and long-lasting impacts of
pollution caused by solid waste.
Nowadays, more and more stress is being laid on the inter-linkages between the
social, the economic and the environmental aspects of development. This is
why the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, came up
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with the “Maurice Ile Durable” initiative in 2008, as a long term vision for the
sustainable development of the country. The main objective of this concept is
to make Mauritius a world model of sustainable development. To translate the
Maurice Ile Durable vision into concrete actions, we are in the process of
preparing a MID Action Plan. This will help in creating a new mindset and in
developing a comprehensive approach for the sustainable development of our
country. As far as waste management is concerned our focus will be on the
adoption of good practices to achieve the sustainable development goals.
I would like here to put on record my appreciation of the good work done by the
Ministry of Local Government in providing, through our Municipalities and
District Councils, the required services for waste collection and disposal. I am
informed that the Ministry has put in place a solid waste management strategy
to guide future actions in this sector. I am sure my colleague will elaborate
further on this issue in the course of his address.
For my part, allow me to share with you some of the initiatives taken by my
Ministry which complement and which contribute to solid waste management in
a sustainable manner.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In 2008, Government adopted the National Environment Policy which laid
emphasis on waste minimisation, re-use and recycling with the aim of
optimizing resource use and reducing environmental and health impacts. This
policy embeds the polluter pays principle, i.e. the party responsible for
producing pollution is called upon to pay for the damages done to the natural
environment. In line with this policy and in view of the environmental hazards
associated with the excessive use of plastic products, my Ministry has passed
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legislation to address the visible pollution problem caused by plastic wastes
namely those resulting from the indiscriminate and irresponsible disposal of
plastic carry bags and plastic bottles.
You may note that plastic constitute 11% of the waste stream. Since plastic is a
non-degradable product, pet bottles occupy a large volume of waste and this
poses a serious problem of disposal. PET bottles and plastic bags are littered
around mainly on roadsides, in drains, rivers and even in the harbour thus
putting the scenic value and cleanliness of our township areas at stake. This is a
real scourge since Mauritius relies a lot on tourism which is one of the main
pillars of its economy. As a small island state Mauritius is faced with severe
space limitation and such type of wastes further decreases the lifespan of the
only sanitary landfill of the country which is already stretched to the limits.
Garbage is a frequent pollutant of port waters. Besides being the harbour, Port
Louis is also the capital city of Mauritius. As all the major commercial
transactions occur at the doorstep of harbour waters, indiscriminate dumping of
solid waste generated by the city upstream and carried downstream by rivers
and waterways find their way to the harbour. These solid wastes, consisting of
a huge amount of plastic products and pet bottles, are not only a nuisance to the
harbour activities but they also have negative impact on the marine
environment. In fact, about 50 tonnes of waste are collected from the beach and
port areas per day, consisting mainly of plastics products and PET bottles. The
floating and submerged debris have aesthetic, health, financial and
environmental impacts.
To deter the increasing use of pet bottles and plastic bags, Government has
enacted several regulations. I will just mention a few of them:-
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1.
Regulations on PET bottle Permit in 2001 which require bottlers of
beverages to put in place a system for collection and recycling of used
PET bottles
2.
Regulations on plastic carry bags in 2004, which set the minimum wall
thickness of vest-type plastic carry bags and their degradability
3.
Regulations on banning of plastic banners in 2008
4.
Regulations on Industrial Waste Audit in 2008, with the main objective to
minimise waste, including solid waste
5.
Introduction of an excise duty of Rs1.00 on each PET bottle and on each
plastic carry bag with handles as from 2006-2007. This duty was further
increased to Rs 2.00 in 2010.
As at now, about 50 % of used PET bottles are being collected for recycling and
the budgetary measures on plastic carry bags have contributed significantly in
reducing the use of such bags. My Ministry is now considering the complete
banning of certain types of plastic bags.
A similar project regarding the collection and the recycling of used mobile
phones and batteries was launched last year in partnership with the Mauritius
Telecom and the private sector. The growing amount of electronic waste is a
daunting challenge to the country since this type of waste contains heavy metals
which are of a highly toxic nature. If not properly disposed of, these wastes
will, in the long run, contaminate the soil, rivers and ground water thus posing
serious health threats to the population. This project is still on and the collected
mobile phones and batteries are exported for recycling.
Ladies and Gentlemen
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For the waste management framework to be effective we need a comprehensive
environmental education and awareness programme for the population. In this
regard, my Ministry is fully engaged in organising awareness campaigns aiming
at sensitising school children, youth organisations, NGO’s and the public at
large regarding the importance of solid waste management. We firmly believe
that the best way to educate and to develop best practices is to start with
children and the youth as they are the drivers of change in habits. Moreover,
my Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Human
Resources and other partners, has initiated the Waste Segregation Project in all
primary and secondary schools. This project is in line with the United Nations
policy to declare the 2005 to 2014 period as the Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development, as education is the gateway to a brighter tomorrow.
Students are called upon to segregate their wastes in three different categories
namely plastic bottles, paper, green wastes and other wastes. For this purpose
my Ministry is providing labelled plastic bins, compost bins, and polybags for
collection of the different wastes. The school population is being sensitized on
waste segregation and recycling through talks by officers of my Ministry with
the help of NGO’s involved in the preservation of our environment. Resource
materials such as posters, pamphlets and flyers are distributed to schools. I
would like here to highlight the pivotal role of recycling companies who have
agreed to collaborate in the Waste Segregation Project for the collection of the
paper and plastic wastes. With time, we hope to change the mindset of the
people and to prepare the way for a more environment friendly population.
The aim of the waste segregation project in schools is to
a)
inculcate to the younger generation the concept of sorting of waste into
various components for recycling or composting;
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b)
influence parents through their children to sort their household waste and
promote composting;
c)
reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill and reduce greenhouse
gases such as methane and carbon dioxide;
d)
contribute to resource conservation in line with the concept of sustainable
development;
My Ministry lays a lot of emphasis on clean-up campaigns. These campaigns
are regularly organised in villages whereby bins are distributed to the
inhabitants who are also encouraged to clean up their village. These campaigns
involve the local community, volunteers, NGO’s and local authorities. Clean up
campaign has served in many cases to uplift the environment in vulnerable areas
where dumping of solid waste is a current problem. I can proudly say that this
activity has proved to be very efficient in sensitising people at local level on the
importance of cleanliness, waste management and environmental protection at
large.
In our endeavour to protect the environment we are promoting new production
and consumption patterns which require drastic behavioural changes at the
individual level as well as at collective and institutional levels. This is all the
more relevant in the context of the ‘Integrated Solid Waste Management’ policy
which requires a new mindset at national level in our quest for environmental
sustainability, a new mindset which would be revolving around responsibility,
partnership and stewardship.
The National Programme on Sustainable Consumption and Production (20082013) developed with the assistance of UNEP and adopted by Government in
August 2008 is under implementation. An Action Plan dedicated to Waste
Minimisation and Recycling was developed under this programme and I am
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informed that some components of this action plan have been incorporated in
the new Solid Waste Management Strategy. The SCP programme has recently
undergone a mid-term review. This assessment exercise has allowed us to take
stock of the constraints encountered during the implementation stage, to address
the teething problems and to readjust some projects in the light of experienced
gained during implementation.
From the above examples, it is clear that we need the active participation and
the collaboration of one and all for waste management to be a success at
national and sub-continental level. There is a need to synergise our efforts and
to learn the best practices from each other. This is the very purpose of this 4day workshop. I hope that this meeting will serve as a platform where actions
can be proposed at regional level for a sustainable solid waste management
system, whilst taking into account the specificity of each country.
I wish you fruitful deliberations and hope that this workshop will guide our
future endeavours in managing solid waste in an integrated manner in our
respective countries.
I thank you for your attention.
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