The menace of plastic waste in the cities, particularly the nation’s capital, Accra is indeed an eyesore. The situation is becoming very embarrassing.  A casual stroll around town paints the picture better. Empty plastic bags are scattered and flying in the streets, markets and lorry stations the drains, gutters and culverts are heavily choked with left-overs of sachet water bags or what is popularly referred to as pure water.

Office and school premises have not been spared this sordid phenomenon. Evidently, the massive plastic waste around is not only an eyesore.It creates a deplorable unsanitary condition that poses a health hazard to the people, hence the outcry.

How do we then deal with the situation?  More precisely, what is the efficient and effective solution to the plastic waste problem? Over the years, clean-up exercises have been carried out from time to time by various groups of people and organizations, yet no desirable results have been achieved.

It has been observed that the production and sale of sachet water has worsened the plastic waste problem in the city. The process involves the collection, disposal and recycling of waste, that is, turning waste into productive items for industrial use.

Unfortunately, recycling waste in our part of the world has not been effective. To ensure an efficient and effective waste management system, workers must be engaged to clean the streets, markets and lorry station daily.

For this to be effective, waste disposal trucks must be deployed to dispose off waste on time to prevent their accumulation, while plants and machinery are assembled for recycling instead of dumping waste on land sites in the vicinity, a practice that creates environmental pollution and a health hazard to the people.

Indeed, the open waste disposal method is very unhygienic and outmoded.

The option therefore, is modern waste management which is integrated in the scheme of metropolitan administration and given priority attention.

Fortunately, waste management companies, including ZOOMLION and the Ghana Waste Recycling, are on the ground, helping to tackle waste problems.

They must be fully resourced and supported, while additional ones are established to complement their efforts. It is all in the pursuit of solving the waste problem efficiently and effectively.

Sachet water bag popularly known as “pure water” constitutes the bulk of plastic waste. There is a proposal to regulate the use of sachet water but is this measure expedient, fair and advisable, taking certain relevant factors into consideration?

First, there are many food items which are packaged in plastic materials. These include ice cream, yoghurt, biscuit, sweets, drinks, chips, and many more being sold on the market. People buy and consume them and throw the empty packs around, generating filth all over. In this regard, it will not be fair to single out “pure water” for blame in our bid to stop degrading the environment.

Second, the production and sale of “pure water” has become a viable business venture, creating employment opportunities and a profitable trade for a large number of youth who would have been idling about. Infact the need to look for more appropriate ways and means of solving the plastic waste problem bedevilliing our environment has become more paramount.

Something has to be done else we all get swallowed by the plastic waste phenomenon.

by Jones Ackah, An Advertising Consultant