Accra, March 4, GNA- Dr Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Tuesday gave a hint of the government’s preparedness to expand the current plastic collection and recycling programme to reduce the plastic waste menace.
He expressed concern over the low rate of collection and recycling, which hovers around one out of 10 plastic wastes generated.
“One thing that is of concern to me is that we are able to process just 10 per cent of the plastic waste we generate in this country,” he said.
“So, the question is the other 90 per cent, what happens? So, we are looking forward to expanding this particular assistance.”
Dr Muhammed, speaking to journalists during a tour to recycling organisations in Accra, said uncollected plastic wastes contributed to environmental degradation.
The Environment, Science and Technology Ministry (MEST)/EPA, with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is, thus, undertaking a project to “Establish the Circular Economy Framework for the Plastic Sector in Ghana” (CEF-PS).
The CEF-PS project is implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and executed by the Government of Ghana through the MEST.
More than nine companies, including Mckingtorch Africa, Nelplast eco Ghana Limited, Maintenance and Sustainability Africa City Waste Recycling Limited, Sesa recycling Ltd, and Pure Home Water and Coliba Recycling Ltd, had received funding to collect and recycle plastics under the project.
Dr Muhammed said the planned expansion, aside from keeping the country clean, would provide employment, while the materials served as a resource to solve other societal challenges.
Of the grantee companies, he said majority of them were based in Accra but the “plastic menace is all over the country, so we need to collect and recycle in Tamale Kumasi and the other regions.”
Dr Glenn Kwabena Gyimah, an official at the Integrated Recycling Plant, said through the project, UNIDO had acquired a USD410,000 plant that processed polyethylene terephthalate, a type of polyester plastic that was used to make containers, clothing, and other products.
The CEF-PS, which is a five-year project, commenced in 2022, seeking to establish an enabling framework for a circular economy in plastics management, build capacity and pilot projects, including public-private partnerships technology transfer, and strengthen Ghana’s capacity to address the plastic leakage into the oceans and waterways.
It also seeks to facilitate sustainable plastics management through operationalising the National Plastic Action Partnership and the National Plastic Management Policy, ultimately ending marine plastic pollution, and reducing the unintentional emissions of persistent organic pollutants.
GNA