F.

Kwaku Addai

Ghana Health Digest. 2005; vol. 5(2): pp. 39-43

THE PLASTIC WASTE MENACE IN GHANA A SYSTEMATIC

ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION.
At its 9th biennial workshop at the University of Cape Coast on July 8 2004, The
Ghana Science Association (GSA) assembled stakeholders to systematically analyse
the plastic waste menace in Ghana with a view to providing a thorough insight into
the problem and how it may be solved. Representatives from the Ghana Plastic
Manufacturers Association (GPMA), the National Association of Sachet Water
Producers (NASWAP), the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Presidential Special
Initiatives (MOTI & PSI), Ghana Standards Board (GSB), and Ministry of
Environment and Science (MES) addressed various aspects of the problem.
Discussions were further enriched by presentations by a representative of Analogistics (a company promoting oxo-biodegradable plastics), Friends of the Earth (an
NGO promoting a cleaner environment), Creative Resource Development Network
(CRDN) (a religious group interested in plastic waste management), and a written
submission by Prestige Chemicals (a company whose plastic waste recycling effort
has floundered).
After a full day of hectic deliberations, numerous salient points were raised which will
be summarized in this article. Overall, the option of banning plastic was declared
impractical and retrogressive because the advantages of plastic and the variety of use
in modern life makes it indispensable. There was general agreement that plastic is the
material of the 21st century, and better future utilization and wider application are
expected to increase its use, with attendant increase in waste generation. Management
of plastic waste must be multi-faceted, and integrate all available options because no
single approach can deal with the wide variety of plastic
waste in a sustainable fashion. Another point that gained universal support is that it is
every Ghanaians responsibility to contribute to efforts to properly manage plastic
waste in the country because we all contribute to the waste. It was emphasized that
every citizen must therefore be sensitised to play an active part in solving the plastic
waste problem. It is considered erroneous and unhelpful to blame the plastic waste
menace on any group of people such as plastic manufacturers or water sachet
producers. Similarly, the perception is inaccurate that metropolitan or municipal or
district administrations are solely responsible for plastic waste management. This is
because without the practical support and responsible cooperation of every citizen, no
agency can succeed in curbing the plastic waste menace. The catchphrase that
encapsulates the need for everyone to see himself or herself as a partner in solving the
problem of plastic waste is that plastics by themselves do not litter, people do.
It is thought that Ghanaians do not fully appreciate the impact of plastic waste on our
environment, and indirectly on our sustenance and lives. For instance, most people
are aware and appalled by the seen plastic waste that litters our streets/beaches, and
chokes drains/gutters promoting flooding during rains. There is however a formidable
build-up of unseen plastic waste from discarded domestic and industrial tools,
appliances, and containers. These include toothbrushes, and containers for talcum
powder, body/hair cream, detergents, cooking oil, machine oil, as well as broken toys,
and plastic chairs, buckets, and utensils. When these end up in the refuse dump and
find their way into the soil they stay there forever because they cannot decay, and

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Ghana Health Digest. 2005; vol. 5(2): pp. 39-43

reduce the soils fertility and/or impede plant growth. It is reported that farm animals
and even fish choke to death when they mistake plastic for food. Small plastic
containers such as empty margarine and pomade containers collect rainwater that
serves as breeding sites for mosquitoes.
One contribution to the plastic waste, especially its adverse effect on the fertility of
farmland, is the plastic in which seedlings are nursed. These end up in the farms
where the seedlings are planted. Surely, all the laudable afforestation efforts and
promotion of cocoa, palm-tree, and cashew plantations generate a significant plastic
waste load that requires attention. It is important therefore that efforts to manage
plastic waste are not unduly concentrated on merely collecting the plastics that offend
our sight, but must include ALL plastic waste.
It is proposed that strategies to deal with plastic waste must be three-pronged. (1)
There must be plans to permanently get rid of existing plastic waste, by going beyond
collecting them from gutters, beaches and streets. (2) Guidelines must be evolved and
popularised to promote proper disposal of plastic waste and minimise indiscriminate
littering. (3) Measures must me instituted to reduce future overuse and wastage of
plastic. In all three strategies, EDUCATION is a paramount and decisive factor.
Informal education must be mounted along the lines of the campaign that was
mounted nationwide to successfully enable the country to change from driving on the
left side of the road to the right side in 1974. The GSA workshop participants agreed
that the jingles, posters, songs, sketches, billboards, and other means adopted in the
Ghana goes Right campaign in 1974 ensured one of the most successful events in
our countrys history. Similar methods must be employed to raise the awareness of
every Ghanaian about responsible plastic waste disposal. Formal education is equally
important in the long term, to help change the attitude of future generations about
irresponsible (plastic) waste disposal.
Fresh insight into the plastic waste menace in Ghana emerged at the workshop when
information was given that the United Kingdom (with comparable land mass as
Ghana and about three times our population) generates about 5-7 times more plastic
waste. There are at least three reasons why the U.K does not have the troublesome
problem with plastic waste that Ghana has.
Firstly, the average Ghanaian has a very poor attitude to waste disposal in general.
Put another way, Ghanaians have a high propensity to litter and do so apparently
without much thought. Plastic does not decay, and therefore over time the waste is
growing out of control. One antidote to the bad Ghanaian attitude to littering is
education on the consequences of improper waste disposal, and the merits of
responsible litter disposal. Formal education on this aspect of waste management
should commence as early as possible to train children waste sorting to facilitate
collection, recycling, and disposal. A second antidote to the poor attitude of
Ghanaians to (plastic) waste disposal is to provide waste bins at vantage points in our
communities, and wherever we expect people to assemble in large numbers. Thus,
schools, mosques, churches, playgrounds, theatres, discotheques, fuel filling stations
etc. must be made to mandatorily provide waste bins at easy to reach points and in
adequate numbers. A third antidote to our poor attitude to (plastic) waste disposal is
resolute commitment to enforcing sanctions against those who breach regulations on

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proper waste disposal. This author suggests an introduction of community garbage

courts with trained stewards (comparable to the town council health/sanitation
inspectors samansaman of the past, who have warrants to arrest citizens who
improperly dispose off (plastic) garbage. Indeed, every citizen must be educated on
how to make a citizens arrest of anyone found irresponsibly disposing off (plastic)
waste. The punishment for offenders, whenever possible should be community
cleaning service under supervision for a specified period. Where such punishment is
not practicable, prohibitive monetary fines should be exacted to discourage repetition
of offence. Names of offenders may be publicised on community notice boards, and
repeated offenders should be sent to the regular courts for custodial sentences. A
fourth way to cure Ghanaians of the poor attitude to plastic waste disposal is to
institute a reward/incentive system that encourages proper (plastic) waste disposal.
Thus, Metropolitan or municipal or district assemblies should give quarterly awards
for the cleanest lorry park/station, shopping area, market, filling station, etc. In fact,
competitions should be organised to find the business with the most knowledgeable
workers on responsible waste disposal, and most efficient waste disposal practices.
A second reason why the U.K does not have troublesome problems with plastic waste
despite generating about 5-7 times more than we do in Ghana is our woefully
inefficient garbage management systems. There appears to be an absence of wellresearched and sustainable strategies for garbage management, and officials and
workers responsible for waste management do not give their job the attention it
deserves. This is borne out by the fact that the few garbage workers around do not
even have appropriate clothing and protective wear for the job. Perhaps the
ignorantly low societal regard for people who work in waste management
departments is a contributory factor. Every local government ought to be charged
with the responsibility of drawing up a sustainable and efficient garbage disposable
plan, including how to generate funds to implement it. This plan should be evolved
through discussions at the village/town/city councils or assemblies taking peculiar
circumstances into consideration, and must include an awareness campaign to make
every citizen an active participant in the process of proper garbage management. The
ministry of local government must initiate, supervise, and coordinate this exercise that
should take place nation-wide.
A third reason why plastic waste has become a menace in Ghana, is because efforts to
collect them for recycling are seriously undermined by the habit of using plastic
carrier bags (particularly the black ones) for disposal of human excreta. Indeed, the
example was given that producers of Poki confectionery abandoned efforts to collect
their discarded plastic containers because people put human excreta in the special bins
they placed at vantage points in the city. This peculiarly Ghanaian habit compounds
the problems that make plastic waste recycling uneconomical at present. To counter
it, metropolitan or municipal or district assemblies must actively source and advance
credit to house owners to construct toilets for their households. One action that ought
to be taken immediately is not to approve a building plan for any new house unless it
includes adequate numbers of toilets. All businesses where people are likely to
assemble or spend more than one hour must be required to have hygienic toilet
facilities. If any new building is approved without toilet facilities, all officers
involved should be sacked for negligence and endangering public safety.

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So what is the way forward in dealing with the plastic waste menace? The foremost
need is for EDUCATION as earlier proposed. Both formal and informal education is
urgently needed to raise Ghanaians awareness of the negative impact of irresponsible
waste disposal in general and plastic waste in particular. Education must also be used
to forge a positive change in our attitude to plastic waste management.
One practical option is to reduce the rate of generation of plastic waste by
discouraging overuse or misuse of plastic wrappers and carrier bags. In some
countries, whereas alternative paper wrappers/bags are free in shops, plastic
wrappers/bags carry a fee that is used to subsidize the more expensive production of
paper wrappers/bags. The reason is that paper waste decays, so it does not endanger
the environment. However, concerns about cutting trees for paper production and its
negative impact on the environment must be borne in mind. Re-use of plastic carrier
bags should be vigorously encouraged and practised by all Ghanaians to minimise
plastic waste generation.
Future plans to minimize the hazardous effect of plastic waste must include adoption
of technologies that produce biodegradable plastic. Currently one company, Analogistics, is promoting the adoption of oxo-biodegradable plastic in Ghana. The
Ghana Standards Board has tested and certified the degradability of plastic carrier
bags manufactured using oxo-biodegradable technology. Samples of these plastic
bags were shown to this author, and documented information indicates that the oxobiodegradable plastic bags can be manufactured to have a pre-determined shelf life.
So for instance whereas water sachets may be made to last for about three months,
carrier bags may be made to up to last three years. On expiration of the shelf life, the
bags begin to deteriorate spontaneously and total decomposition is achieved within
three years after commencement of decomposition leaving no non-degradable or toxic
residues. Adoption of this technology is estimated to increase the unit price of plastic
bags by 15-20% or from 50 per sheet to 60 [last years prices]. The forestry
Commission and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture must adopt this type of plastic
immediately, for nursing seedlings.
There is also need to consider increasing the thickness of the plastic film used in
manufacturing carrier bags from the current 9-11 micrometers to a minimum of 30
micrometers. This indeed is the situation in countries such as India. The increased
thickness of plastic film is expected to reduce excessive contamination of plastic
waste (that increases recycling costs), and makes discarded carrier bags difficult for
the wind to blow around. The GSA Workshop participants proposed however, that
any increase in thickness of plastic film must be accompanied by adoption of a
technology that provides a line of weakness on water sachets and other plastic
containers that need to have one end torn before their contents can be used.
Presently, recycling of plastic is uneconomical in Ghana because the collection
system is not efficient enough to accumulate the large volumes of waste necessary,
and what is obtained is too heavily contaminated (with filth including human excreta).
These problems are compounded by relatively high electricity charges to make cost of
recycling plastic too high to be sustainable. Future efforts, including those suggested
in this article, must improve plastic waste collection and minimize contamination.

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More energy-efficient technologies for plastic recycling must be developed through

research in Ghana. GSA is willing to encourage members to carry out such and other
needed research, if funding would be obtained.
In the meantime, the idea of trash to cash, in which plastic waste is converted into
a money-earning opportunity must be seriously evaluated for adoption. From our
recent past experience with scrap metal, it is expected that when Ghanaians know that
plastic waste can fetch money they will scavenge the gutters, beaches and streets for
them. Information available indicates that there are companies in the US and South
Africa that are ready to purchase plastic waste from Ghana for recycling. The
National Plastic Waste Management Programme must include this option that can be
implemented as soon as practicable to reduce the plastic waste menace. This will
offer opportunity for our teeming jobless youth to earn some income while ridding
our streets of plastic waste.
Special incinerators must be constructed by municipal/district assemblies for burning
plastic garbage that is too contaminated to be sold for recycling. This is because
landfills made with plastic renders the soil forever unusable for agriculture. Where,
landfills become inevitable, those areas must be properly demarcated so that no
agricultural activity is attempted there. The landfills must also be fortified against
erosion that can carry the plastic waste elsewhere, particularly into rivers and streams
where they will create problems already highlighted.
The GSA encourages the National Plastic Waste Management Task Force to
commence informal educational programmes immediately. GSA members have
committed ourselves to collaborating with the appropriate ministries to evolve a
formal education curriculum to train children on responsible waste disposal, and the
adverse effect of improper plastic waste management on the environment. We also
offer to carry out research on recycling technologies and ways to permanently get rid
of plastic waste in an environmentally friendly way. Our hope is that the Plastic
Waste Management Programme would make funds available for research.

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