The United Nations has issued a prohibition of disposable plastics within the premises of all its agencies in Nigeria.

The UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, issued the ban in a memo to all the heads of UN agencies and UN workers, saying the ban was part of “our commitment to contribute to global efforts at reducing dependence on single-use plastic materials in our environment but particularly in the workplace.”

The UN coordinator noted that the ban would contribute to several Sustainable Development Goals.

Kallon said, “Please refer to our meeting on January 30, 2020, where we deliberated and agreed to a series of decisions and action points. One key outcome at this meeting was our commitment to contribute to global efforts at reducing dependence on single-use plastic materials in our environment but particularly in the workplace.

“Based on this decision, I kindly inform you that effective from February 15, the prohibition of single-use plastics within the UN House premises will come into effect. I request you as heads of your respective agency to provide the requisite leadership and guidance to operationalise this decision.

“Your operation managers should adopt appropriate administrative measures to curtail the use of single-use plastics within your agency’s daily operational and programme procurements and interventions.”

He added, “The UN House Manager is also advised to adopt measures of this prohibition within the UN House and create the required awareness, particularly to our common outsourced service providers and vendors.”