By Dennis Peprah
Bourkrukruwa (A/R), Aug. 19 – The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resource has begun a nationwide refuse dump evacuation exercise to avert possible outbreaks of communicable diseases in rural communities, cities, and other urban centres.
According to Dr Freda Prempeh, Sector Minister, the Ministry was partnering with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, private waste management and sanitation company to undertake the exercise.
The Ministry would place enough waste bins and refuse containers at vantage points across the country for proper waste disposal to promote best sanitation practices and environmental cleanliness.
Dr Prempeh, also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North Constituency disclosed this when she interacted with the media after her inspection of refuse dumps evacuation at Bourkrukruwa, Terchire, Nsesreso and Jerusalem in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region.
She said the Ministry was worried about the widespread refuse dumps left in “centuries” in some rural communities and urban areas, which were serving as fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes, rodents, reptiles and other dangerous animals.
These refuse dumps also serve as places of convenience, where some unscrupulous people eased themselves, a situation contributing to poor sanitation practices.
Dr Prempeh emphasised that proper waste management and environmental cleanliness remained shared and collective responsibility and appealed to Ghanaians to support the Ministry.
She said the public could support if they desisted from indiscriminate dumping of refuse and plastic waste materials and littering around.
Dr Prempeh said the Ministry had also prioritised waste segregation and recycling of plastic waste materials for other purposes and called on households to endeavour to segregate waste materials.
She emphasised households which failed to segregate their waste before dumping them into refuse containers and bins would be made to pay additional fees.
Mr Sampson Akwettey, the Acting Director of Environmental Health and Sanitation at the Ministry said the nation spent huge sums of money for waste management every year and called on everybody to help keep the environment clean at all times.
GNA