The ManicaPost
Abraham Mudefi: Environment Issues
Many hardly know the environmental damage and associated health hazards, including cancer, they cause. Polystyrene commonly referred to as kaylites is a petroleum-based plastic that has its origin in styrene monomer.Kaylite is usually white, very light and consists of 95 percent air, making it a very good insulator, hence its use for packaging in the food industry. This property makes it ideal in insulating electronic good from excessive heat or cold and for absorbing excessive shock on these products.
Polystyrene is mainly used to make utensils for the food industry, including cups and plates The California Integrated Waste Management Board reported that an EIA conducted in 1986 in USA revealed that kaylites had the second highest environmental impact after aluminum.
Extruded kaylite is normally manufactured with hydro-chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) which destroy the ozone layer that protects us from the harmful radiation of the sun. HCFCs have a greater impact on the ozone compared to carbon dioxide.
When kaylite is burnt it releases carbon monoxide and styrene monomers that pose a great health hazard to human health. Polystyrene cups and plates eventually make their way to the rivers and eventually oceans.
In 2006 the United Nations Environment Programme estimated that every square mile of ocean hosts 46 000 peace of floating objects. Most of it is kaylite. Kaylite is difficult to manage even if disposed of properly because it is light and so can float or be blown away even from the dump sites. It is easily washed down the drains and rivers and easily breaks down on the slightest impact, to smaller pieces that are not biodegradable. Marine life like fish and other animals eat these pieces and get poisoned and die.
This does not end there, but the poison is transferred to other animals that eat the dead fish through a process known as bio-magnification.
A study of 162 marine life showed the presence of kaylite in them.
Kaylite utensils are not good for our health. If you leave food packaged with this material in the car the heat generated in the vehicle leads to the absorbing harmful chemicals in kaylites by the food.
Also, serving very hot food in kaylites leads to the leaching of chemicals to your food. Kaylite contains very toxic substances called styrene and benzene.
Dr Philip Landrigan of Mt Sinai School of Medicine noted that kaylite contain carcinogens and neurotoxins that are hazardous to humans.
Hot food and liquids actually propel the partial breakdown of kaylites. It will then be absorbed in our blood streams and tissues. Regular use of kaylites will eventually result in irritation of the eyes and skin or upper respiratory track or gastrointestinal complications.
Consistent use of kaylites utensils could result in minor kidney challenges, headaches, fatigue or even depression over a long period of time.
When chemicals in kaylites are ingested they mimic estrogen and this in human could result in breast cancer, prostate cancer and serious nervous problems or brain damage. A long time ago these utensils were not used. And now with the rise of health challenges this area may need a relook.
This information is not to frighten anyone. It is there for anyone to check on the medical sites on the internet. As stated earlier on kaylites containers leach toxic styrene when it comes into contact with warm food, drink, alcohol, oils and acidic foods causing food contamination. This is a serious danger to people’s health. Medical institutions generally advice people to avoid drinking tea with lemon, coffee with dairy creamer, fruit juices, alcoholic beverages and wine from these utensils. It is also believed that red wine will instantly dissolve styrene monomer making it easy to be eaten or drank along with the food or drink.
When Food with vitamin A (beta-carotene) is heated it produces m-xylene, toluene and dimethylnaphthalene. Toluene is aggressive and dissolves kaylites. That means heating food in kaylites food packaging is not safe for human health. The Canadian Food Inspection adds that people should remove food from these containers before heating because this renders the kaylites unstable particularly with foods that contain vitamin A.
Kaylites are using just thrown away posing environmental dangers.
The attitude towards the disposal of kaylites utensils leaves a lot to be desired. It is so disheartening to see a very educated and executive individual who is very high in the echelons of our society throwing kaylites utensils out of a moving executive car or simply throwing them in the streets carelessly as if it is ok, everybody does it kind of mentality, so it is fine. I will not talk about what the users of public transport do. This is outrageous.
This goes to show how our education system is doing very little to improve our attitudes towards the environment. If you want to have a rude awakening just move around the main street of Mutare very early in the morning and see what menace is caused by kaylite utensils and many other forms of litter. You will be shocked.
After video filming a certain wedding I was one of the last ones to leave the venue because I was packing our equipment. I can tell you more that 98% of the people just threw the cups and plates on the ground. A visitor would almost mistake this for a Zimbabwean culture. But that is exactly what it seems. So this is why in this week’s article I humbly submit to the Minister of Water, Environment and Climate to consider a very drastic action which is not short of banning the use of Kaylites. Poor nations have the habit of taking action on environmental challenges when it is too late. The excuse is usually that they are more urgent economic and political issues that clog the legislator’s tables. This is a big mistake we are making. Kaylite plastics take between 500 years to 1 000 000 years to decompose. This saves to show how much environmental blue print we leave for the coming generations and how the future generation will perish because of our selfishness.
They will write us in their history books, sing us in songs, draw us on cartoons and circulate us on the newer forms of social media as the most ruthless and selfish generation that ever lived. For these reasons this why I am persuading our Hon Minster of Water, Environment and Tourism to leave a mark in her tenure as having decisively removed this ugly environmental monster from amongst us.
In Africa many countries have led by examples in banning plastics and kaylites. This includes Rwanda, Eritrea in 2005 and Ethiopia in 2008 among others. Zimbabwe faces a very stiff challenge to move alongside other countries in making giant Environmental Protection Legislation.
In other countries for example trees are accounted for but here the attitudes among our people and the legislative framework and its enforcement still needs attention.
We need to fund initiatives that lobby and advocate for environmental protection in the country.
I challenge the co-operate world, government institutions, universities and churches to fund initiatives that complement government effort and increase public awareness. It has to be now or it will be too late. This environmental column could be sponsored to include the entire community and school children. A lot more publicity and awareness needs to be done by exciting community activities like essay writing, poems, drawings, spot the litter lout section etc. These are just ideas but with resources we could do so much for our community and nation. Someone could be thinking of short term solutions like recycling. Yes this is possible but it is currently not a lucrative business for the ordinary people because no one buys the kaylites. This business also requires some investment to purchase the appropriate equipment that dissolve and recycle the plastic. The other option is exploring other options like bamboo, recycled paper and corn plastics.
Maybe it’s high time people carry their lunch boxes to restaurants if they do not want to feed from there. And for the sit in guests they should be served from plates that can be washed and used over and over again. As a rollout to the ban of this plastic we could charge very high import duty to those who import kaylites.
If someone was to be levied an extra 50c or $1 to their meal during lunch time many people would sit in and have their meal as opposed to having it packed in kaylites that they later carelessly throw away.Many people think that because Kaylites utensils are widely used in Zimbabwe they should be safe for us. The fact that the government has not started talking about them that much that does not make them safe. Kaylites is hazardous both for the environment and for our health. A survey conducted in 1988 by the foundation for Advancements in Science and Education also found styrene in human fatty tissue.
So this is my humbly submission to our Hon. Minister to consider starting a process that leads to the banning of the use of Kaylites at least in the food industry for a start. This advocacy based article should create debate among people.
The next time you go to town, pass through a river or travel along a main road please observe what plastics and litter in general is doing to our beautiful environment while we watch. Pleased be agitated, be moved and take a positive action. Have a blessed weekend and please don’t forget to post your feedback.
Abraham Mudefi is a Development Worker with a local International Organisation. Please feel free to suggest other topics of concern or just sent in your feedback to [email protected] or 0772 968 040.
