Ban single-use plastics, encourage waste segregation – Experts tell government

Marine Pollution in Ghana is at a tipping point. Apparently, the incessant pollution of Ghana’s marine environment with plastics does not only pose future concerns but its negative impacts are already being felt.

As a result, experts are calling for urgent corrective action to combat the menace of plastic pollution in the country’s marine environment.

In an interaction with Eye on Port’s Kennedy Mornah on Accra-based Metro TV, the Executive Director of the Blue Economy and Governance Consult, Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio has added up to the longstanding call for the instant ban of single-use plastics in Ghana.

He contends that because the country has failed to manage single-use plastics, it is best to outlaw their usage rather than allow the issue to fester.

Mr. Amarfio explained that single-use plastics form a chunk of plastic pollutants in the marine environment due to their highly disposable nature. Unfortunately, he said, they are easily accessible and disposal is difficult to control.

“The amount of single plastics we are bringing in is alarming. When I was young, when you go shopping, you go with a basket which is reusable. These days, for everything you buy, it comes with a polythene bag that you dispose of right after use. Can we just take the bull by the horn and ban them?”, the seasoned fisherman appealed.

Richster, who also serves as the Secretary of the National Fisheries Association of Ghana and Ghana Tuna Association also called for a policy that encourages waste segregation practices at all levels of the society.

He said this has become very necessary because waste disposal practices in the country presently are not environmentally sound.

“People buy organic substances and other biodegradable items and tie them in plastic bags before dumping them into waste bins. What this means is that, the organic substances are not allowed to decompose.”

“Waste disposal contractors should be made to take separated waste, for example we need separate bins for organic waste, plastics, paper and other products. This should be done at the district and municipal levels. Why don’t we pilot these at our basic schools and universities?” he added.

His call was further strengthened by the Director of Petroleum at Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, Kojo Agbenor-Efunam, who revealed that single-use plastics take about 450 years to decompose.

The environmentalist likened plastic pollution, which he termed as “a man-made disaster”, to humans subjecting the earth to extreme suffocation, even though the price will be ours to pay.

He argued that the problem of waste disposal is not a matter of awareness and education as his outfit consistently embarks on nationwide sensitization.

He said Ghana’s problem is one of attitude and a behavioral change towards the environment.

He doubled up on the reconsideration of the laws governing single-use plastics hinting that landfill sites are getting overwhelmed with plastics.

He lamented that not only are plastics affecting the marine ecosystem and defacing Ghana’s beachfront, but posing a great danger to arable lands as well.

“In our younger days, it was very common to find earthworms that enrich our soil, but nowadays they are hard to find. They are being smothered by plastics and they suffocate and die out.”

Contributing to the discourse, the Head of the Marine and Fisheries Sciences Department at the University of Ghana, Professor Francis Kofi Ewusie Nunoo, intimated that fish health and marine biodiversity is at immediate risk from plastic pollution.

He said fish often ingest plastics as food which is dangerous for their survival.

He revealed that, during a fisheries study conducted around Tema, researchers discovered plastics in the stomachs of fish species, which he said accounts for many premature fish deaths in the country.

He said when fish do not die, their growth is stunted and reproduction is impaired.

Prof. Nunoo who is also the Chairman of the governing board of the Fisheries Commission, described the disheartening nature of plastic flow into water bodies during the rainy season.

“We have studied using satellite remote sensing. When it rains you see large chunks of plastics moving from the Odaw into the Korle.”

Together with Richster Amarfio, Prof. Nunoo appealed to the government to reconsider channelling little to zero-treated waste into water bodies as it is unsustainable.