Accra to generate 60 tons of plastic waste

Accra, Dec. 6, GNA - It is estimated that waste produced from plastic packaging in Accra alone would reach an average of 60 tons per day in 2008.

The figure adds up to the 22,000 tons of plastic waste in a year. Despite the estimated increase, only two per cent of plastic waste was recycled, a survey by Gold Coast Project, an Environmental Management company, revealed in Accra on Thursday. This was during the launch of the Company's "Trashy-Bag" initiative.

The initiative seeks to rid Accra in particular and the country as a whole of filth through collection of sachet bags and reproducing them into usable items such as school and shopping bags. Mr. Stuart Gold, Director of the company, said the initiative also formed part of a wider environmental effort to solve sanitation problems and indiscriminate dumping of rubbish.

"At Trashy Bags, we believe there is life after death and this is why we make useful and attractive bags directly from water and ice-cream sachets that have been collected from the streets," he added. Mr. Gold observed that a cursory look around showed that gutters were full of these wastes, which caused diseases and therefore financial burden on the government.

Kwabena Osei Bonsu, Managing Director, said the Company had branches in five other regions and would soon widen its tentacles to embrace the rest of the country to check the plastic waste menace.