By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, said the country is sinking in the sea of plastics and will not hesitate to criminalise aspects of plastic production and usage.
He said the Government was working with stakeholders and would apply all forms of strategies to deal with the situation to protect the people and the environment.
The Minister, who was speaking to journalists on Tuesday after a visit to some recycling companies in Accra – Mini Plast Ltd and Dophil Roofing System – said government would not hesitate to impose a limited ban on some categories when necessary.
For the plastic litters, he said the current laws would be assessed and where needed legislation would be enacted to make indiscriminate disposal of plastics unattractive through noncustodial sentences, a punishment given by a court of law other than a term of imprisonment or a fine.
“At the policy end we are doing well but the weakness is at the implementation side. Efforts are underway to ensure a well-coordinated approach to deal with the situation,” he said.
Dr Afriyie said Cabinet recently approved Ghana’s National Plastics Management Policy (NPMP), which had received international collaboration to translate the policy objectives into actual comprehensive managed plastics to address current environmental challenges and serve as a vehicle for sustainable development.
The main objective of the NPMP is to grow the economy, create jobs and protect the environment to propel development.
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The policy had also been developed as a road map to progressively reduce the usage, recovery, recycling and re-manufacturing of plastics.
The Minsiter said based on the NPMP’s objective to tackle the menace of plastics pollution, Ghana was selected as the first African regional partner of the Global Plastic Action Partnership in 2019.
