ZEMA seeks SI to fight solid waste

THE Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) is pushing for a statutory instrument (SI) that will hold manufacturers of recyclable products responsible if their solid waste is not cleared from the environment.

ZEMA manager for corporate affairs Irene Chipili said as a regulatory body they were not just looking at banning plastic bags but that they were also looking at a holistic picture of packaging materials.

Ms Chipili said ZEMA’s position was to introduce the SI called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) that would help manufacturers of those products to take responsibility for clearing the empty bottles or cans from the environment.

“If you look at the beverages of mineral water and all kind of drinks, there is a lot that is on the market in terms of solid waste.

“That is why we are pushing for the SI EPR to help manufacturers take responsibility over their waste materials. As ZEMA we are not just looking at plastic bags,” she said.

In an interview with the Daily Nation, Ms Chipili explained that once the EPR was implemented it would eventually lead to a gradual phase out of plastics adding that was what other countries had done.

“How they do it will depend on the manufacturing companies. Look at a Coca- Cola bottles, people know that there is a value for a Coca-Cola bottle so you will not find it on the street they will pick it and go and sell it,” she said.

Ms Chipili said once the EPR became functional it would help ZEMA hold any company whose solid waste was all over the environment responsible.

She added that manufacturing companies would have to come up with incentives for people to help take the waste back to them using whatever mechanisms.

She explained that the EPR had under gone through a stakeholder consultative process and ZEMA was waiting for the Ministry of Justice to approve the SI adding that they had no control of how long it would take before it became law.