Mauritians urged to reduce, reuse and recycle waste

The Clean up the world campaign 2019, celebrated internationally every year during the third weekend of September, aims at supporting local environmental actions to combat waste and plastic pollution.

Activities include the cleaning up and embellishment of various public places; cleaning up of at least one site in each local authority; reinforced actions with regard to eyesores and barelands; involvement of youth community in clean up campaigns; and awareness-raising workshops on the importance of a clean environment and response to disasters.

In his address, Acting President Vyapoory highlighted that adopting the three actions “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’’ will significantly help in reducing waste, and minimise the amount of pollution being made. He appealed to the population to join the global effort to combat pollution and to become agents of change to help make a better and cleaner world.

As for Minister Sinatambou, he underlined that planet Earth is being drastically polluted by the irresponsible actions of mankind.  The Clean Up the World campaign, he observed, is an essential reminder and raises the alarm as regards the deteriorating situation prevailing on our planet.

The Minister stressed on the urgent need to safeguard the environment from all sources of pollution and appealed the population to take individual and collective actions to help clean up and conserve the planet.

Minister Sinatambou also spoke about the current situation in Mauritius as regards waste generation.  He indicated that in 2018 some 500,000 tons of waste were generated and that some Rs 1.5 billion are disbursed annually for the collect and disposal of waste. The increasing amount of waste generation by our population is indeed alarming, he said.

According to him, one key strategy to address this alarming environmental concern is to reconsider the way we produce and consume and adopt sustainable practices in all spheres of life that will ensure a sustainable environment.

A tree planting ceremony was also held following the launching of activities to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.