Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, the Chief of Staff, has urged Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies to intensify their supervisory and monitoring roles of waste service providers to ensure proper sanitation in the country.

She said clean cities were good attraction for tourists and investors, leading to the increased local economy, adding that, district assemblies have major roles to play under the decentralised system of governance to bring development closer to the people.

Mrs Osei-Opare said this in Accra at the launch of 20,000 street litter bins, spearheaded by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.

The litter bins will be handed over to the district assemblies and to be mounted at some principal streets in the country.

The Chief of Staff charged the district assemblies to adhere to their mandate by providing basic services to the people and create the enabling environment to attract and support investment and economic activities.

"As a lower middle-income country, there is the tendency for people to generate more waste as a result of change in taste and lifestyle.

Responsible government institutions and partners must put measures in place to manage such waste", she added.

She said the cost of treating preventable diseases and restoring the damaged environment was huge and that avoiding such cost must be an integral part of any coherent strategy for sustainable development.

She expressed concern about the haphazard disposal of plastic waste, which constituted one of the major environmental challenges practiced by majority of the public.

However, studies indicate that plastic component of the waste stream is over 10 per cent and most of it is found on the streets, in open drains, oceans and water bodies.

She urged plastic manufacturing companies to work with the Ministry and MMDAs to address the menace of plastic waste in the country.

She appealed to the public not to dispose household waste into the bins but rather the disposal of handy litter generated on the street.

Madam Cecilia Dappah, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources said government would continue to put in place measures to address environmental challenges.

She called for attitudinal change in addressing poor sanitation saying 'poor sanitation retards progress and development'.

"The Ministry is poised to avoid open defecation, plastic littering and this can be done effectively with the support of all and sundry".

Mrs Linda Asante-Agyei, the Vice President of the Ghana Journalists' Association, said the association would continue to collaborate with stakeholders to educate the public through the media to practice proper sanitation.

She urged the religious bodies to play a role by educating the congregation to avoid bad environmental practices and to live a healthy life devoid of diseases.