There is a national call to respond to the threat posed to our environment by our lifestyles. The accumulation of waste in our cities, towns and residential communes is an eyesore which threatens our future livelihood in all areas of the socio-economic life of our nation.
Facing this threat and tackling it head-on, some concerned individuals have formed an organization registered as Enviro Trust whose main objective is specifically to eliminate the threat posed by thin plastic in the pollution of the environment. Enviro-Trust is a non-governmental organization constituted as a non-profit organization. Our vision is that of a clean and healthy and sustainable natural environment in Malawi and our mission is to be a non-partisan, civil society resource to decision-makers in the Government, the Civil Society and International Development Partners.
Accordingly, Enviro Trust recently entered into a partnership arrangement with the Malawi Government through the Malawi Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA) in waste management interventions. A letter from MEPA to that effect is attached to this proposal.
The ultimate objective in undertaking this project is to manufacture locally the small paper shopping bags, which we are now introducing, to replace the banned thin plastics. Meanwhile, the most pressing and immediate challenge is to raise public awareness of the threat of thin plastics to our environment. Beyond this, there is a need to bring the solution to these threats to public awareness. In this respect, Enviro Trust has identified partners who are willing to ship 150,000 small paper bags to us in Malawi as a bio-degradable solution to the non-biodegradable thin plastics. We intend to introduce these as desirable alternatives to plastics by distributing them freely to the public in the three major cities in Malawi.
We are proposing to have a launch as an initial drive to scale up public awareness of the use of paper shopping bags as an alternative to thin plastic shopping bags. The event will attract members of the general public, government officials and sponsors. Thereafter, schools and public places like markets will be the targets.
To make this launch a reality, we will need financial support. It is estimated that a one-time launch will cost US$5,000, which includes securing the paper bags, importation costs and local logistics to cater for the launch. It is for this purpose that we seek your assistance to meet the financial requirements. Your support will be appropriately recognized through public recognition at the launch and in national newspapers..