The poor practice of burning waste dates far back the time of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem there is a place called “Gehenna” which used to shield waste which included dead bodies/human corpses, and fire was always burning 24 hours a day. According to the Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, Gehenna, Gehinnam, or Gehinnom are terms derived from a geographical site in Jerusalem known as the valley of Hinnom, one of the two principal valleys surrounding the old city. In parts of the bible, the site was initially where followers of Baal and Moloch sacrificed their children by fire (2 chronicles 28:3, 33:6, Jeremiah 7:31, 19:2-6), the valley later became the common waste yard for all refuse of Jerusalem. Here the corpses and ashes of animals and people, as well as wastes and garbage were cast and according to legend, consumed by a constant fire. Older commentaries give the location as below the southern wall of ancient Jerusalem, stretching from the foot of Mount Zion east ward past the Tyropoeon to the Kidron valley. In a modern society however the practice of uncontrolled combustion/ burning of discarded material as well as polymers are unacceptable and frowned upon . And resorting to it as immediate solution for poorly manage garbage in our cities is criminal. Already, aside the extra dose of toxins and particulates coming off flaming and smoldering trash, people are suffering year-’round from smog created by a fast-growing number of cars, vans and trucks with no emissions controls. As we seem not to made head way with the proper management of plastic waste which is only estimated at less than 15% of our waste stream what then stop us from following good to get good examples from other countries like Rwanda, South Korea, Singapore, Netherlands and Costa Rica to mention but a few since enforcing or placing a ban on some plastics in our region is not a one cut solution as but I will suggest we follow the approach of Costa Rica. Costa Rica uses two major approaches among others on how to properly manage their environment. One is making environmental education across cutting venture, secondly, managing the environment with the economic benefit attached like recycling of plastic waste. If I ask, would the ban placed on some plastics solve our problem of haphazard dumping of other waste? The answer is no, we need adequate awareness supported by implementation of the existing laws. It is imperative left to the political leaders to decide.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 11:49:49 +0000
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