Litter problems

PEOPLE continue to discard their personal household waste intentionally and recklessly knowing very well that there is no system or mechanism in place to monitor the situation with the view of prosecution.

The new subdivision at Nadawa, Nasinu has become a convenient place to pollute for people with vehicles due to the isolated nature of the area. There are very few houses there and the dumping happens at any time as no one is watching.

The refuse consists of white goods and other rubbish including animal guts and intestine. The new residential area has footpaths, water, and electricity but the roadside weeds has overgrown and now covers pavements. This encourages the polluters that the area is neglected for them to throw their rubbish.

This falls within the jurisdiction of the Nasinu Town Council but I believe that the area is yet to be formally handed over by the developers.

The effects of littering must be aggressively cooperated into our education system in the primary school level. Years ago, there was a health science subject taught in the primary schools that also involved student participation of the clean-up of the area. Knowledge gained via practical applications, carry with us for a long time.

Practical learning allows pupils to put what they’ve learned in the classroom into practice and improves knowledge retention rate.

Most of the adults just do not bother about the greenhouse effect and our best bet to keep the country clean is to educate the youngsters.

They are the leaders of tomorrow with a very high chance of improving our environment pollution.

Having conferences such as the recent International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a good forum but that becomes a total waste if the learnings is not filtered down to the grass root level with no tangible improvement noticed in the future.

SATISH NAKCHED

Suva