For about a year and half now there have been several calls on the government to ban plastics in the country due to its effect on our environment their health repercussions.
The Minister of Environment Science and Technology; Professor Frimpong Boateng has revealed that the government may not ban the use of plastics in Ghana completely like other African countries due to some of its importance.
“In managing plastics we think that a wholesale ban will not be in the interest of Ghana because plastics are used everywhere.” he said.
The Minister made this revelation at the meet the press in Accra on Tuesday 2nd July 2019.
Several petitions have been presented to the government by pressure groups and other stakeholders advocating a complete ban of plastics in the country since it is causing a lot of health problems and compounding the filth in our environment.
“Two years ago we were under pressure to ban plastics in Ghana because certain countries have banned plastics in Africa, so we should do the same, we think that we should be very careful in the way we do that” he said.
He explained that to be able to ban the use of plastic waste in Ghana, we should have measures in place to monitor and enforce such bans.
Professor Frimpong Boateng disclosed that the government through his Ministry have drafted some policies that will help manage plastic waste in Ghana.
“The policy has two components we have a resource recovery secretariat; a secretariat that will be manned by people from my Ministry, from sanitation, from local government, from the private sector, from the manufacturers, and those who use plastics” he revealed and added that a committee of stakeholders will be formed to have a clear look at the management of plastic waste in Ghana.
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