General News of Thursday, 21 February 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

Government announces plans to deal with the plastic menace

Plastic waste (File photo) Plastic waste (File photo)

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that the government has prepared a plastic management policy with the overarching aim of managing plastic menace comprehensively.

The policy, when implemented would recover and recycle 82 per cent of plastic waste with existing technology into value-addition product in high demand locally and with West African sub-region.

Delivering the State of the Nation’s Address on Thursday in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said an extensive discussion was being concluded with investors on the most sustainable ways available.

A vibrant recycling industry in Ghana could recover nearly one million tonnes of waste plastics from the environment and landfills annually to be recycled into basic need products valued GHC 2 million, a year as well as create jobs.

“…Plastic filth is one of our biggest problem and we want to solve the problem with an international approach of reduction, reuse, recover, recycle,” he said.

Going forward, President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance that people who littered and those who stole refuse bins would be prosecuted.