In the southern globe, bells are ringing on every long and short waves on almost all television channels, radio stations, social networks and word of mouth about the passage of Cyclone Chido, which comes at dizzying speed crossing the seas of Madagascar, rising with giant waves towards the city of pemba in slender cable. Temperature men and their charts are forced to by compasses, satellites in advance of the cyclone.
In the city of Pemba, some ditches are being cleaned to make way for the water that will, as always, destroy some houses if a cyclone hits, trash that will be swallowed by the sea as its waves return to the sea. As much plastic as possible. It’s 6:48 am on Saturday, December 14th, one day before the announced day of the cyclone’s arrival, sitting on Wimbe beach, the cold wind that comes announces the cyclone, the fishermen don’t go to sea, they sit and fix, mending their nets.
And, I ask them if they don’t go to sea and they tell me the cyclone is coming. From midnight on the 14th to the 15th the gusts of wind whistled. On Wimbe beach, on the surface of the sea at the bottom of the ocean, waves were roaring in a thunderous storm, they were thundering, loaded with tons of rubbish, spitting it out at full force onto the beach. The trees screamed in silence, from their tops they looked down whispering that they were tired of so much plastic and towards the sea they went with the wind whistling furiously in an orchestra with splashes of sand, all the sounds, solo, bass, double bass from almost all the instruments, the moon loaded with cumulus clouds was racing at cruising speed.
Wimbe beach in Porto Amélia, as the city of Pemba was known until 1975. Capital of the province of Cabo Delgado. Pemba Bay, the 3rd largest bay in the world and the first in Africa in terms of depth, is located in the City of Pemba in Cabo Delgado in the far north of Mozambique, and is also one of the best protected on the Mozambican coast, in line straight, the bay is 1,666 km and 2,450 km via highways northeast of the country’s capital, with a great diversity of marine life hidden in the coral reefs, beautiful beaches with sparkling waters, blue, sea green and sometimes a dark blue on the days when the sea decides to breathe spitting out tons of all kinds of rubbish, dead algae, plastic – bottles, disposable diapers, the famous ‘take aways’ among cloths and other types of rubbish carried into the sea by the water coming from all corners of Pemba and surrounding areas, Murebue, etc. Disposables and other rubbish sometimes become a type of cement or rubble placed over craters – roads, roads
In the North, last November, it revolved around the exploration of climate policies and measures, the implementation of national climate plans and the support provided or received that can promote and help gender-responsive climate action after the COP Conference of the UN on Climate Change Baku on the 11th to 12th Last November in Baku – COUNTRIES were giving speeches, declarations also countries were preparing their reports, Transparency Biennials for presentation until December 31, 2024.
From statements such as that of the UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change, Simon Stiell, of COP29, in response to the G20 Leaders’ Declaration in Rio de Janeiro calling on the leaders of the world’s largest economies to also commit to driving financial reforms to put action strong climate within the reach of all countries. This is an essential signal in a world plagued by debt crises and growing climate impacts, destroying lives, destroying supply chains and fueling inflation across economies. Leaders reinforced that global cooperation is absolutely essential, and COP29 must show how this is done, with a new and ambitious financial objective as the central pillar of a balanced package and urgency for all nations to move quickly towards common ground, on all issues.
“First, because they will be the final barricade for each nation in its fight to the death against climate impacts that become more brutal every year. And let’s be clear: no nation is winning this fight. All economies are being besieged by climate disasters, which damage up to 5% of GDP in some countries. And it is the people and companies that are paying the highest price. Yesterday was agriculture day and we heard again that food production and supply chains are being hit by climate impacts, fueling inflation and hunger, in all countries. So I’ll be honest – it’s dark. In fact, I am often asked what gives me confidence that we can do this work.”
According to the United Nations, eight million tons of plastic are thrown into the sea every year, and by 2040 these volumes could triple. Out of the rivers, what is not retained ends up in the oceans with an impact not only on humans but also on marine life, species not only die from being suffocated by floating plastic but also end up ingesting the plastic, mistaking it as their food. but just as plastic becomes a mousetrap in their movement, they end up getting trapped between these plastics, and even more so, plastic enters the food chain and anyone who eats marine products ends up ingesting around 11,000 microparts
Newborns generally use around 7 disposable diapers per day, that is, around 200 diapers per month, which must be changed whenever they are soiled with pee or poop. large quantity use of disposable diapers in the first years of a baby’s life and its environmental impact, Garbage on the ground and sea pollution
In Mozambique
“The greatest insult to humanity are disposables” In Mozambique data from the Ministry of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries indicate that, per year, 12.5 million tons of waste, plastic in particular, are produced.
The new law, recently enacted by the Mozambican parliament, aims to reduce the use of recycled plastic bags, especially those used in food handling due to their high level of toxicity and suspicion of causing cancer. The measure applied also serves to reduce the excess of plastic bags that can be found in landfills in the country’s cities and thus reduce the environmental impact.
Recycled plastic bags are even more toxic
Plastics are materials composed of synthetic resin based on petroleum, they are insoluble and when recycled they become even more toxic due to the additives that are added to them in the recycling process. Ana Paula Cardoso, head of the environmental health department at the Mozambican Ministry of Health says that “these are bags that have already been used for other purposes that we are not sure what they are. They are then used to package food and we know that plastics, given the their nature, may contain toxic substances.”
Plastic waste prevents drainage from gutters and causes flooding. The environmental benefits are very great as plastic bags prevent the free flow of water, causing, for example, flooding,
Says the UN Every year, eight million tons of plastic end up in ocean waters, leading to the death of 100,000 marine animals, according to data from the United Nations (UN). Furthermore, the institution states that, if the rate of consumption remains the same, by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans.
As a result, all marine species, from plankton and shellfish to birds, turtles and mammals, face risks of poisoning, behavioral disturbances, starvation and suffocation. Corals, mangroves and seagrass are also suffocated by plastic debris that prevents them from receiving oxygen and light.
Companies that produce plastic, multinationals and the richest countries
Mozambique is part of this equation, vulnerable to climate and other issues, a country that consumes everything or almost everything, less protection for foreign investments and imported products. At first glance it seems less worrying, but no, there are tons of plastic that at the end of the day contribute more to multinationals and their subcontractors who profit most to the detriment of countries that consume these plastids while others make billions of dollars.
The companies that produce the most plastic are just more concerned with profit and not necessarily where said plastic finds its final port where a real Waste Management System is still a mirage.
According to the Plastic Waste Makers Index (PWMI) report, organized by the Minderoo Foundation, only 20 companies manufacture half of the disposable plastics consumed in the world, with emphasis on ExxonMobil, based in the United States, which is the largest producer of polymers for disposable plastics. (responsible for 6 MMT in 2021 alone), followed by the Chinese Sinopec (5.8 MMT), and another North American, Dow (5.3 MMT).
Also according to PWMI data, despite all awareness efforts, the production and consumption of single-use plastics grew worldwide between 2019 and 2021. The data indicates that the world population consumed 139 million metric tons of disposable plastics in 2021. In 2019, the year of the first survey led by the foundation, 133 million metric tons were consumed.
https://www.reciclasampa.com.br/artigo/conheca-os-maiores-fabricantes-de-plasticos-descartaveis-do-mundo Brazil is the 4th largest producer of plastic waste in the world, behind only the United States, China and India. The country is also one of the least recycles this type of waste: only 1.2% is recycled, that is, 145,043 tons. The data comes from a study carried out by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Dec 3, 2019 last COP-29
The most dangerous of these is bisphenol A or BPA, the raw material used in the manufacture of polycarbonate, a resistant plastic, which is widely used in industry. The substance is similar to a female hormone, estrogen, and when it comes into contact with the body, it can cause various dysfunctions.
https://veja.abril.com.br/ciencia/20-empresas-produzem-mais-da-metade-do-lixo-plastico-descartavel-do-mundo The Plastic Waste Makers Index revealed that just twenty companies are responsible for around 55% of the single-use plastic waste produced around the world. Single-use plastics, like bottles and food packaging, make up the majority of what we throw away every day. Also according to the study, approximately 60% of the commercial financing that supports plastic production comes from twenty banks around the world. Around 30 billion dollars were awarded
In Mozambique, environmentalist Carlos Serra is committed to educating children and says that “The idea is that there is an outside. ‘The Sea has authentically become a universal rubbish bin and, “the result is that what is not retained ends up in the oceans.”
Key Takeaways, a study shared by Serra, illustrates the model that was tested through five national case studies, estimates the value and distribution of external damages – and external benefits when relevant – caused by plastics and their substitute materials throughout their respective production cycle. life. The model evaluates the external costs of a selection of 10 plastic products that are frequently found in marine litter along with a maximum of three alternative replacement products. The model can evaluate the effects of all 10 plastic products or focus on a selection of products. in the following five countries, such as Bangladesh, the Caribbean (using input data from Saint Lucia), Mozambique, Nigeria and Vietnam.
According to the report, Mozambique has a variety of production industries present in the raw material extraction/production life cycle phases; generates plastic waste in the lowest range compared to standard values for a low-income country: 9 kg/capita/year in Mozambique compared to a range of 9.5 – 19.0 kg/capita/year as standard values; Mozambique has a high percentage of renewable energy (80%) in the local electrical mix; Mozambique has a plastics collection rate that skews toward the lower range of plastics collection in low-income countries (30%);
Regarding the model results:
The aggregate external costs of the 10 plastic products in the base case are slightly lower than the aggregate external costs of the alternative materials. The total external costs of base product diapers are higher compared to bio-based alternatives in Mozambique. External costs are almost entirely borne by the effects of climate change for the three compared products. Page 30 Plastics Life Cycle Valuation Country Case Studies Report 20210205.pdf
Selected plastic product, e.g.
Fishing nets 2. Drink bottles, 10. Diapers
Selected alternative materials
1- Polypropylene (PP) (replacement of plastics with plastics) • Cotton • Hemp. 2- Metal cans (aluminum), 10- Reusable cotton cloth diapers
Cellulose-based (bamboo) reusable cloth diapers
Solid waste management and the environment
Yopipila itself means green environment, which is a training and innovation center for young people in the province of Cabo Delgado, also in matters linked to green technologies, linked to the bio construction part of collecting different types of waste, such as, for example, plastic, plastic bottles, as well as HDPE plastic and PETE bottles, and HDPE plastic, already used bags, discarded wooden cases, glass bottles used for the construction of buildings, walls, fence, as well as the PETE bottle. They also use HDPE plastic -plastic chairs.
“With this type of plastic, we are opening a production line, the idea is that we produce slabs for latrines from that recycled plastic, locally, at Pemba level. this type of plastic. At the moment, we already have some machinery, such as an extruder, a crusher, and we are almost at the end of importing a machine into India, we are almost at the end of closing the machine, which is the sheet metal press, to create the mold. We identified a partner, which is Biomec. “
“We also use plastic bottles to build sustainable, resilient homes, and our buildings do not use iron, but they are consistent buildings. The idea is to also show the community based on the material we have at the local level.”
The Hakuna Matata Foundation has also carried out some cleaning campaigns on the beach, collecting different types of rubbish. In addition to the foundation in Pemba, there are other associations such as AMEC, Associação Amor, AVSI in the lineage of recycled materials, the only one that somehow does recycling, solid waste management and the Iopopila project – Hakuna Matata Foundation. In addition to carrying out cleaning campaigns, we mobilize economic agents to recycle waste (glass and PET bottles, tires and HDPE plastic) and direct them to the Yopipila hub. This material is used in the construction of resilient and sustainable buildings. Through these initiatives, we have already helped some displaced families in the Mahate neighborhood with the construction of their homes, also demonstrating to the communities that it is possible to build durable modern houses like conventional ones using recycled materials. Our projects have financial support from the European Union and the Irish Embassy.
This article was produced with the support of the GRID-Arendal grant
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