SUPPORT WASTE MANAGEMENT EFFORTS

ABOUT a decade or so ago, iced water sellers were encouraged to stop the use of cups in the sale of water to the public. Among other things, it was felt that the communal use of the cups could be the medium for the transmission of communicable diseases. The alternative is what has become known today as “pure water” (water in sachets).
The idea caught on with both sellers and consumers and in no time ‘pure’ water manufacturers sprang up in all the corners of the country. The boom in this sector is unimaginable because at the last count there were thousand’s of sachet water manufacturers providing jobs for all manner of people, including the aged and children.
The pervasive lack of sanitation infrastructure to deal with the plastic waste menace has forced personalities like the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to advocate a ban on the use of plastic bags to package treated water for sale.
It has been suggested that in order to deal with the situation, a special tax should be placed on the production and sale of plastic bags to raise money to hire labour to clear the filth. Another suggestion is for the government to create the enabling environment for business concerns to establish recycling plants to change the ills caused by plastic waste for economic gain.
By now it should have dawned on all of us that our inability to provide the sanitation infrastructure is impacting negatively on livelihoods. For a long time, malaria has gained notoriety as the major cause of death in the country, although the opportunities exist to control its devastating effects.
The ills of ‘pure’ water are common to all the markets, commercial centres and other centres of activity, such as funerals, weddings and other social events. Nonetheless, there is no well thought-out plan on what to do with the empty sachet after the content has been consumed. The problem is further compounded by the improper waste disposal culture of Ghanaians.
It is worrying that at the time the country is grappling with resolving the plastic waste problem, Blowplast Recycling Industries Limited near Tema is producing below optimum capacity. The plant, inaugurated last year at the cost of two million Euros, was meant to recycle 24 tonnes of plastic waste daily.
The Chairman of the plant, Mr Manoj Lakhiani, told journalists that his company had been compelled to purchase waste from Nigeria because of the reduction in supply locally. This sounds very strange, particularly at a time the environment is engulfed in filth.
The AMA and other local government institutions must collaborate with Blowplast to encourage unemployed youth to clear the city of the plastic. Although the initiative is private-sector driven, it will help clear the environment of carelessly disposed plastic waste, while offering jobs to the unemployed.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, adds its voice to the support being canvassed by Blowplast Company from all interested groups to enable it to recycle the plastic waste, first as its contribution to finding solutions to the plastic waste menace and also providing jobs for the unemployed
We believe that the AMA and other local authorities can deal decisively with the ills of plastic waste if they step up waste management campaigns, in addition to enforcing their bye-laws to make it unattractive to litter the environment. Waste management is an expensive business and that is why those who generate the waste must also contribute a little to energise waste management in the country.