Illegal Plastic Bags Still Smuggled Into Cameroon Via Ekok

A ban on plastic bags went into effect on April 24, 2014 but illegal plastic products are still sneaked into Cameroon through Ekok at the Nigerian border.

By Azore Opio

“We are still intercepting a lot of plastic bags being smuggled into the country through Ekok,” Jean Fotabong Etem, Chief of Bureau for Sustainable Development at the Divisional Delegation of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, Mamfe, told The Green Vision recently.

In Cameroon now, there are millions of plastic bottles and other containers made of plastic disposed of annually. These plastic wastes are either dumped in landfills or left to litter both the urban and rural communities. Since plastics are non-biodegradable, they take up valuable land space, ruin the landfills and block waterways. Because they also trap water, heaps of plastics also serve as breeding grounds for

vectors of diseases such as malaria and cholera.