Much of the world’s population has yet to wake up to the environmental damage caused by poor waste management, the chief executive of the charity WasteAid, Mike Webster, has said.
Mr Webster made the comments whilst delivering the Kit Strange Memorial Lecture to invited delegates in Westminster yesterday (March 6) – in honour of the late founder of the Resource Recovery Forum.
WasteAid trainees making charcoal briquettes from organic waste
The lecture was hosted by Labour MP for Huddersfield Barry Sheerman, who began by paying tribute to Mr Strange, and reflected on some of the efforts made in tackling environmental harm.
He went on to praise the work of the headline speaker, Mike Webster of WasteAid, explaining the importance of bringing good quality waste management systems to poorer parts of the world.
The charity – which was set up by British waste management professionals to “spread recycling skills around the world” – works on waste and recycling projects in countries where there is very little infrastructure to deal with waste.
Most recently, the country has been awarded £50,000 in international aid from the UK government for a project to set up a recycling centre in Kenya.
Charity
Mr Webster went on to speak about some of the challenges his charity has faced across the globe.
“I’ve suffered a bit of a crisis of confidence recently, as the more I have been out there the more I realise that there is just so much of this stuff [waste], and we’ve seen examples of rivers completely covered in plastic, and even farms where healthcare waste has been dumped. Disease is rife and they have no way of dealing with this.
“People around the world now are living consumer lifestyles, they go to the shops and are buying products that are packaged. This is how most people live, which is why there is more waste. The environment isn’t on people’s agendas now. Marine plastic has gained the most traction, but this has been going on for a while.
WasteAid chief Executive Mike Webster
“We have to understand that we are quite peripheral to this debate, there are people in parts of the world people simply don’t have their waste collected and are dumping in canals and rivers when the floods are up as it helps get rid of it. The whole process starts with getting it picked up in the first place.”
Mr Webster added that in order to tackle the issue, the methods of communication needs to change, and efforts also must be made to work with manufacturers in developing countries.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
