Global Plastic Treaty: SEDI Calls For Action

By Isaac Eranga

In 2022, the global plastic pollution treaty was adopted by 175 countries at an annual conference held by the United Nations Environment program (UNEP). The treaty according to UNEP, was aimed at tackling the entire life-cycle of plastic, with the primary goal of developing circular economy that break the region of single-use plastics. 

This has led people from different countries of the world to devise myriad of methods in tackling the global crisis of plastic pollution. Various countries have enacted restrictions on different types of plastic. These ranges from updated recycling facilities, reduction in plastic use, development of bio-plastics, and investment in alternatives. According to globalcitizen.org, "communities have staged clean-up efforts to remove plastic waste from coastlines, rivers and landscapes. Technologies have been invented to trap microplastics and massive machines have been mobilised to clear away ocean plastic".

"But the problem keeps getting worse. That's because these efforts have been fragmented. Without global coordination, the plastic industry will continue to evolve and expand, plastic consumption will become more common and diffuse, and plastic pollution will become more widespread, contaminating the farthest reaches of the planet".

"And despite efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic products as well as countries who have banned plastic use in some instances, experts predict that plastic production will increase by 40% in the next ten years", the Guardian reported.

In Nigeria, the Sustainable Environment Development Initiative (SEDI) has been playing a tremendous role in reducing the use plastic, thereby contributing to the Global Plastic Treaty.

Firstly, SEDI has coordinated plastic brand audits in 2021, 2022 and 2023 in Nigeria cited in http://sedinig.org/gallery/, with Coca-Cola and Pepsico being the leading brands of plastic waste polluters.

Secondly, SEDI coordinates a campaign on ‘Pathway to Municipal Waste Management in Edo State’ campaigning for a non-incineration policy on waste incineration in landfills, cited in http://sedinig.org/sedi-waste-management-communique/), with continuous engagement with waste pickers, government officials, media and other stakeholders in Edo State.

Furthermore, SEDI facilitates waste pickers in Edo State working towards formalization and integration of waste pickers. SEDI has facilitated the ‘Otofure Dumpsite Waste pickers Constitution’ for waste pickers (http://sedinig.org/waste-pickers-constitution/).

In addition, SEDI is Co-chair, Circular Economy Benin-City club: Devoted to the design and implementation of circular economy strategies in the plastic sector with a pilot plastic waste collection, recycling and campaign programme using the circular economy business model to reduce plastic pollution and create green jobs.

Finally, SEDI works on zero waste and is using black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) in managing and treatment of biodegradable waste such as kitchen waste. This is a promising and sustainable way to manage organic waste generated from our homes, schools, farms, and industries.

SEDI has been in the fore front of media advocacy for the Global Plastic Treaty with coordinated media articles in Nigeria. SEDI supports global campaigns through sign ups to letters supporting a future free from plastic pollution and demonstrate civil society power. 

The aim of SEDI is to amplify the campaign in reducing plastic use and increasing the percentage of plastic waste recycled. Currently, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled. Meaning that 91% ends up in landfills, in oceans, and in the bellies of marine life.

SEDI however recommends the following:

- plastic production reduction

- chemical transparency

- ensuring mandatory extended producer responsibility (EPR)

- commitment to put regulations in place to operationalise policies

- necessitating the push for more upstream measures

- the inclusion of waste pickers, indigenous peoples and frontline communities, under-represented African countries, women and youth

- championing social and human rights aspects of the plastics treaty and sustainable, roburst financial mechanisms for the treaty.

A Valued Direction

Our answers are always within, one just needs to make sure the direction you’re heading adds value that benefits life…

Looking back to when my shift occurred, I can see I had a definite direction I wanted my life to go when I begin the study of my own mind. There weren’t any goals to achieve or some great state of mind to make my life about anything in particular, all I wanted was a direction that provided value that eluded me for most of my life. This is still my direction today, but just because one is on a so called spiritual path, it doesn’t mean the direction your heading adds value to you. I went in a direction for years that I was told was right and it turned out not to add value to life; these things actually kept me in bondage. I won’t go into details, but what I do today adds value to life and how I know this is because I’m at peace and don’t have a real desire for anything else. I have passion in my heart for things, but not an aching because I need this moment to be different. I’m not looking for anything, that’s how I know the direction has value.

You may be reading all the books, quoting all the right people, and putting all your energy into a direction, but the question is can you stop it all and still be at peace. If not your direction is only being used as a distraction. I was distracted for forty nine years so I know what I’m talking about. If you’re not at peace, your direction doesn’t add value to life. All things are pointers, but the misdirection is in thinking the pointers are the answers. The answers are always within, one just needs to make sure you’re heading in a valued direction that benefits life…

Let Go of Everything

Letting go doesn’t make you free. Letting go is you giving everything its freedom. The more this is adhered to the less chance there is of returning to some previous state of inner discontent…

Years ago as my day would begin, at some point I would become discontented and reach for something I thought would quiet it. I would be satisfied for a little while, become discontented again, and reach for something to be satisfied again. Over and over this cycle was repeated and basically this controlled the way I lived my life. The objects mean little except in the fact the more destructive the thing reached for is, the more it affects life in a negative way. This is going on today for millions of people, it’s why I have such a passion to get the message of what happened to me out to as many as people as possible; suffering doesn’t have to be. Young, old, male, female, ethnic backgrounds, not to many people aren’t affected by this cycle; this is the puppet on the string cycle. The origin of the discontentment needs to be innerstood if this cycle is to be halted. Its origin is the self-serving mind which keeps a person entrapped to the self-serving mind.

Imagine this, for forty nine years my life was spent in this cycle, but it isn’t this way today. It doesn’t mean the cycle doesn’t happen, but just the awareness of this fact is so freeing; it’s so important to remain aware of this fact. I have no idea what others have gone through in their life so it matters little if what I see is what someone else sees. The important thing is to know that it was my own mind that created the cycle that kept me discontented for far too many years, today my mind is not enslaving me the way it did. I have learned many throughout my life and one of them is not comparing my life with anyone else’s. Whatever someone sees I may or may not see, but regardless, what is seen is through the view the universe gives. What I have found as a valuable innerstanding to keep me from returning to my previous cycle is “Letting go doesn’t make me free. Letting go is me giving everything its freedom.” The more this is adhered to, the less chance there is to return to a previous state of discontent…

A Different Perspective

The only way to get a different perspective is to have something in place that will allow it to be different. This is where quietness comes in because without it there won’t be awareness there’s another perspective…

Watching television is not my favorite way to past time, but the other night I watched a football game. When it was over I began looking for something else to watch. Twenty seconds on one channel, ten seconds on another, five on another, than another and another, you get the picture. It’s amazing how we get locked in on something when it comes to our perspective. We’re so reluctant to have a different perspective even though we’re going round and round in circles.

Think of something you get fixated on and see how hard it is get a different perspective when it gets you in its grip. Unless there’s total awareness of this, a different perspective will be just about impossible to be seen. The only way to get a different perspective is to have something in place that will allow it to be different. This is where quietness comes in because without it there won’t be awareness of a different perspective. It may be a repeated perspective disguised with many different labels, but it’s still an old one. Watch the subtleness of this and in time you’ll see the perspective for what it is and how it likes to default to what’s familiar. The issue is you can get so comfortable with a perspective that it’s not realized there are others. This realization will only occur if you have something in place that allows a different perspective to be seen as beneficial…

Internal Light

Internal light is the true essence of all beings. The only reason there’s darkness is because the light is looked for externally. When there’s awareness of your internal light, it instantly replaces darkness…

There needs to be awareness of the internal light of the heart so the dark places of the mind dissipate. The light is always on just waiting to replace darkness, it never goes out. When you live from the mind the thought realm is allowed to take over and it becomes very difficult to see your internal light. This internal light is what turns away the darkness of an unconscious state of mind; this is the world of the external answers. As long as answers are sought externally, darkness will remain. Darkness creates a world that’s mind based and this is what blocks awareness of internal light. It doesn’t allow for the pure essence of the life to be recognized. It holds onto the belief that life is to be managed so it can be a certain way, but even if the way occurs darkness remains because it’s mind based.

Internal light on the other hand is of the heart. When seen it replaces the darkness without effort; as when entering a room and the light is turned on the darkness is no more. That’s all that’s needed, the light needs to be turned on. Light always replaces darkness, unless one’s bulb is burnt out; this is our path to make sure the internal light is always lit regardless of the surrounding darkness. As your light remains lit, more people from the darkness will see it and be drawn to you. When this occurs it will draw others to you as the light expands and maybe one day one light at a time, there won’t be any darkness to replace because everyone will see their internal light…

Division of Duality

A view of duality causes division because it creates a you and a me. Whenever this is the way life is viewed, there has to be division because there’s a self that’s doing the perceiving…

An awakening is a shift from being caught up in a dual self world. This limits the ability to see what’s really going on beyond the division of duality. The phrase higher self is often used to explain what being awake is, but attachment to self causes duality anyway it’s looked at. You must go beyond any thought of self to truly awaken because any thought of self whether higher or lower is a distraction that keeps you locked in the division of duality. Any thought of self creates this division of duality; oneness is the only true state of being. I’m old enough to have seen the old cartoons where an angel and devil would pop up on someone’s shoulders when they were about to make a decision. To me regardless of which one won out, it caused division made by self. A belief of a higher self as opposed to a lower one makes for a nice story, but it just creates more division.

This form that has manifested for humans to experience life does what it does because of the conditioning in place. If there is less of this conditioning to not be controlled by a dual self, count your blessings because most people (form) will die consumed in a dual self. It makes no difference whether it’s labeled higher or lower, self is self and until self is truly let go of, duality division and not oneness will be the controlling energy. This duality causes division because it creates a you and a me. Whenever this is the way life is viewed, there has to be division because there’s a self that’s doing the perceiving…

A Needing Story

Until you can be with life as it is without needing, a needed story disguised as truth will continue its control, and unfortunately so will the suffering of constantly thinking you have a need to fill…

Just because you have a thought about something that doesn’t make it automatically true. It may be associated with what is thought to be true, but upon further investigation it’s probably just a made up needing story providing you with a direction of the way you think things should be. We use the story of helping others in this way, but it’s really in place to pat ourselves on the back because we make up the story that helping others is a good thing; we use anything to fill our arisen needing. We also use God in this way to strictly fill needing, nothing more. All these made up needing stories block you from seeing the truth of what’s really going on. If a story is being used to make up what truth is, I guarantee you it’s not truth, it’s only a story that’s arising from needing.

Truth is not something to know. It can’t be defined adequately with words because it’s only seen when the mind is settled. When you judge someone regardless of what they do, you are applying a needing story (your version of truth) of how you think they should be. This is the same with life situations, and these judgements are only there to fill some need. Life is always as it is, and until you can just be with it instead of needing it different, truth will never be experienced. Thus your needing story will continue its control, and unfortunately so will your suffering because of constantly thinking you have a need to fill…