Accra, Oct. 1, GNA- The lack of adequate infrastructure for collection and segregation of waste is impeding efforts effectively manage plastic waste pollution in Ghana, Mr Venan Sondo, an environmental scientist, has said.
In an interview with the Ghana news Agency, Mr Sondo said waste recycling facilities should be cited closer to communities and adequate bins should be deployed to make it easy and convenient for people to dispose waste.
“There is Lack of infrastructureand that makes it virtually impossible for those who really aspire to segregate or recycle their waste to have difficulties and when there is that lack of convenience, it sort of a disincentive for people.
“If a household has to travel 1km to dispose waste, that is already a disincentive. Recycling centres should be closer to communities,” he said.
Mr Sondo made the call after delivering a presentation at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Alumni Workshop in Accra on the topic: “Upstream sustainable management of plastic pollution in Accra with expertise from DAAD Alumini.”
In Ghana, some 120 companies manufacture over 52,000 tonnes of various plastics and plastics products per year, according to the Ghana Plastic Waste Management Policy Document.
According to the Document, more than one million tonnes of plastic waste are generated every year, suggesting that domestic manufacturing accounts for less than 5 per cent of all plastics entering the economy.
It is estimated that out of one million tonnes of plastics produced in Ghana annually, only 10 per cent is recycled and 9 per cent leaks into the ocean.
Mr Sondo said plastic waste collection was not a profitable venture in Ghana and thus did not encourage people to consider that activity as a source of livelihood.
He advocated for polices that would offer monetary rewards to persons who collected plastic waste for recycling purposes.
Mr Sondo said he was hopeful that the ongoing Plastic Action Roadmap being developed under the Ghana Plastic Action Partnership would scale up efforts towards achieving the target of zero plastic in the country by 2040.
“Ghana will be zero plastics by 2040 and a whole holistic approach is required. This will require time and resources to achieve.
“The effort is there but the scale of the effort does not commiserate with the challenge we have at the moment,” he said.
Mr Derrick Tanka Vershiyi, the lead organiser for DAAD Alumni, called for more education on plastic waste management as well as the development of plastic waste management challenge in communities to promote effective waste management practices.
GNA