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Victor Maphosa Herald Correspondent
THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) will this week escalate its fight against the sale and use of banned polystyrene material, commonly known as kaylite, an official has said, as efforts for a greener economy and attempts to stop environmental degradation gather pace.
EMA’s provincial environmental manager for Harare Metropolitan Province, Mr Robson Mavondo, said kaylite is still in circulation despite a ban effected by the Government.
“We discovered that those who use kaylites are still using the old and illegal ones which were banned by the Government. This has prompted us to intensify our operations which target the complete removal of these old kaylites from the market.
“Next week, we are going to conduct a massive operation targeting restaurants and wholesalers who are not adhering to the ban of these illegal kaylites; we will leave no stone unturned,” he said.
He, however, said the amount of kaylite on the market had decreased but there were still some restaurants and wholesalers in Harare who are not compliant with the Government directive.
Mr Mavondo said EMA is committed to wipe out all the illegal kaylites and has since written to the Zimbabwe Republic Police requesting for reinforcement in their planned blitz.
“The number of kaylites on the market is decreasing, owing to blitz we have been carrying in Harare. However, we continue to see them so we will not rest until there is zero illegal kaylites on the market.
“We have since written to the police requesting for reinforcement which will help us in our next operations which will targets those wholesalers around Harare. We will carry out the operations once every week until all the illegal kaylites are removed from the market,” he said.
He urged everyone in the fast food industry to use regulated kaylites and related packaging material which is already available locally.
“We keep on encouraging people to avoid using illegal kaylites because they block sewage drains and they are dangerous to the health of the people as they are cancerous,” he said.
“The Government decided to ban these kaylites, therefore, we are now enforcing it for the safety of people.”
Besides being a danger to the environment, exposure to chemicals emitted by heated kaylite causes headaches, weakness, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal and kidney complications.
Online Reporter