For no apparent reason at all, some humans have been trying hard to impose their hatred for thin plastics on ordinary citizens like me. For starters, when I say thin plastics, I mean plastics that have a thickness of less than 60 microns.
Now, for some time, some people have been claiming—wrongly, in my view—that thin plastics degrade soil quality and pose health risks to humans. By humans, they mean Malawians like me.
Well, my take—and this is my opinion, which I have a right to express—is that this is disinformation. In other words, it is part of a carefully orchestrated discourse and I am not surprised that there are quarters who advance this discourse. Like in all human endeavours, I suspect that there are monetary rewards for this.
To begin with, people are employed to be speaking against thin plastics—those materials with a thickness of less than 60 microns. In other words, people get salaries for speaking against the, rather, ‘innocent’ thin plastics. Without speaking against them, someone may find him of herself out of work!
So, you see, there is a financial motivation. With the high unemployment rate in the country—we saw the number of youths who availed themselves of stadia where walk-in interviews for health personnel were being conducted this month. Scores of youths lining up to try their chance—the ‘war’ against thin plastics is quickly becoming a cash cow. Fine and well, but just ‘eat’ the money in silence.
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And I know that there are countless ‘well-wishers’ who have truckloads of cash to splash on those who, while foaming at the mouth, rant against thin plastics, which I feel are as innocent as fresh air.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. After all, the Republican Constitution provides for the right to earn an income, so long as no law has been violated in the course of earning that income.
As such, I would expect those that push the anti-thin plastics agenda not to force their ‘truth’ down the throat of people like me. If I believe thin plastics are good for me, let it be— they are good for me!
Maybe I should go back to the point I raised above. That is to say, for some time, some people have been claiming—wrongly, in my view—that thin plastics degrade soil quality and pose health risks to humans.
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However, the ‘truth’ I have found is that thin plastics can, if well harnessed, add fertility to the soil. Yes, they can add fertility to the soil. I tried a small experiment in Lunzu Township, Blantyre, where I have developed a small orchard. Two years ago, when thin plastics were still in use, I put 2 kilogrammes of the thin plastics on burning charcoal. Within 30 minutes, all the thin plastics had been reduced to ashes. I then took the ashes and applied them to the soil when I had planted pawpaw, guava and other fruit tree seedlings. Lo and behold! I have started eating paw paws now because they grew exceedingly greener and matured fast. Paw-paw plants that were not supplied with ‘thin plastics manure’ did not grow exceedingly green, let alone mature in no time.
So, there we go. I believe thin plastics enabled my garden to flourish. How, then, do thin plastics degrade soil quality?
On the issue of thin plastics posing health risks to humans, my view is that no one can say with certainty that this always holds true. Just some two years ago, this country was reeling from a cholera outbreak like no other, with over 50,000 people bearing the brunt of the outbreak. I am sure many more people would have been affected by the disease had thin plastics not been in use by mandasi and zitumbuwa sellers then.
Today, thin plastics have disappeared from shops—both retail and wholesale—and zitumbuwa, zimimina, mikate, zigumuyoyo, atondido, mbodya, kadyaubwerere, mbalaga and mandazi [the flitters type] sellers are packing the ‘products’ in worn-out, and mostly dirty, newspapers and other ‘suspicious’ materials.
Just last week, I opened bowels after eating zimimina and mandazi ‘packed’ in such materials. When the rainy season comes, I am sure waterborne diseases may become the in-thing. Now that is what we call a health risk.
This health risk has been exacerbated by the lack of alternatives to thin plastics. They discarded one thing before finding alternatives? Well, I see poor planning in the quest to please I-do-not-know-who. And, as they say, failing to plan is planning to fail.
But I am not surprised. There is a discourse on thin plastics—a discourse that is being oiled by the money that others are willing to throw around. Money, Dear Pain, talks.
