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Story Reported by Gideon Kotey
The level of plastic in our ocean is worrying and needs urgent attention to address the menace.
According to him, the there is a potential to create 5m jobs in plastic waste management and through this the state can make a 2m Ghana cedi per annum.
Speaking at the world environmental day, the CEO of Institute of Environmental Assessment, Chartered Environmentalist Dr Eric Twum, was under the theme: Beat Plastic Pollution
Plastics, the paradox of the century, are so useful and at the same time a great pollutant.
He was optimistic that the introduction of plastics revolutionized the market, challenged traditional materials, and won, taking the place of all others and becoming the sole material for packaging, making it very easy, convenient,and less contaminated.
According to him, the possibilities of plastics gave hope to the future due to their safe, inexpensiveness, and how humans would shape them into any form.
However, this was shuttered when the hope of the future became the very threat to our existence.
Dr Twum, reiterated to the fact that the unblemished status of plasticsdid not survive the test of time. Debris of plastics became the order of the day, polluting our ocean environment, choking biodiversity to death, and increasingly causing environmental problems.
He was poised that chemical additives during the manufacturing process to make plastics durable, flexible, and fireproof also increased the potential threat posed by plastics to human health due to the ability of these chemicals to leach into foods and water.
The time is now to reconsider the harm caused by plastics and change our course to protect future generations from pollution and save the ecosystem. It is time to collectively unite to beat plastics and secure our future.
According to him, less than 10% of plastics brought into the Country or manufactured are recycled. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more plastics in the ocean than fishes caught by fishermen. Plastic management however also provides an opportunity for us as Ghanaians. There is a potential to create 5 million jobs and bring into our economy GHS 2 billion from plastic waste.
"We need to use less plastics. From collection, segregation and reforming plastics into other usable materials for construction, aesthetic or decoration purposes, we can beat plastic pollution.
We need to change our attitude of dumping plastic waste indiscriminately and place plastic waste in designated waste containers for collection"lamented.
Ghana has a lot of resources that can help revive the economy back to its track.
Source: www.truthtvgh.com
Editor: Nii Amon