Africa-Press – Botswana. The grand finale of the inter school debate tournament, which will be held on April 26-28 in Gaborone, will see Maoka Junior Secondary going head to head with Ledumang Senior Secondary School.
On the road to finals, the teams recently debated the motion; Waste Burning is the Best Way to Manage Waste – Agree or Disagree.
Disputing the subject, Team Maoka made it to the finale by advocating for management of waste by applying the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) approach.
The team was of the view that putting 3Rs into action was the best way of handling the waste.
Leading the opposing team, Kago Tumagole said with the 3Rs approach, the Reuse would reduce the amount of waste as well as recycling possible waste by putting it back into use.
Kago said the Reuse approach challenged one to be creative and use their ingenuity to possibly find some means of reusing waste material.
Also, Kago said it was possible to recycle plastic and paper waste, among others, and produce other household goods useful in the day to day life.
She emphasised that recycling and reusing waste would reduce pollutants likely to be produced by burning waste and by so doing conserving the environment and other natural resources.
The team was also of the view that pollution resulting from waste was likely to result in spates of diseases as a result of polluted environment.
Additionally, Kago and her team stipulated that the use of incinerators in destroying waste was not only costly, but equally produced harmful emissions to the environment.
Therefore, the opposing team advocated for recycling and reusing of waste to ultimately reduce its negative impacts on livelihoods and the environment.
In support of the motion, Nanogang JSS lead by Debbie Garebone said burning was the best way of controlling waste as long as it was done responsibly.
Debbie said the use of incinerators could cut the amount of waste by as much as 95 per cent, therefore reducing the amount of waste that was usually an eyesore and causing harm to environment while piled at landfills.
Debbie and her team aegued that ash produced from burning waste was useful in farming as a fertilizer as well as for construction as it could be used to produce cement.
Debbie said some countries such as Sweden were known for reducing waste that was dumped and piled at landfills by burning it in incinerators.
She said the heat that was produced by incinerators while burning waste could be transformed into steam that spinned turbines to generate electricity.
Meanwhile, the director in the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control, Ms Oarabile Serumola was impressed by the level of competition.
Ms Serumola said the pupils had displayed high level of awareness of issues of waste management and how waste could cause harm to the environment.
She said the event was a public education platform where young people were empowered with knowledge on waste management.
Therefore, Serumola said engaging the public through such platforms was intended to educate them on waste management and reduce adverse effects of waste on human health, the environment and planetary resources, among others.
“The aim of waste management is to reduce the dangerous effects of such waste on the environment and human health,” she said.
She also pleaded with the public to adopt safe and proper waste management methods and avoid burning waste as it emitted toxic chemicals harmful to the environment by, among others, causing air pollution.
The showpiece was organised by Change Africa in partnership with Botswana-European Union Policy Dialogue and the Ministry of Tourism and Environment through the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control.
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