A model in a single use plastic attire
Musicians and fashion designers have joined the campaign against the use of non-degradable plastics, also known as single use plastics, and the ills of improper waste management in the country.
The fashion designers ? Nana African, Doreen Aidoo, Innocent Fiifi and Anna Cole ? in collaboration with the WASH Africa Team and Zen Gardens, showcased creative designs made from non-degradable plastics at a music and fashion show dubbed ‘Zero Borla Fashion & Music’.
Patrons of the fashion show were also treated to some good Ghanaian music as a way of raising awareness on the need to ban single use plastics and its impact on the environment.
The initiative aims at pushing the agenda for the use of degradable plastics and other alternatives to single use plastics like paper bags, baskets and glass.
President for WASH Africa, Ashim Morton, said it was about time Ghanaians stood up against the use of single use plastics in order to save the environment from further degrading.
“… If we do not change it now, nobody is going to make it happen and it is going to be to our detriment in the future,” he highlighted.
Mr. Morton, who is known for his campaign against poor sanitation, thus, called for a change in the way things are done “in our environment in order to save it.”
He said some leaders of other countries have seen the negative impacts of single use plastics and have done something about it, adding that as Ghanaians, “we owe it as a responsibility to safeguard the situation in order to make the environment a better place for the next generation.”
In his remarks, Bismark Brown, a media personality, stated that non-degradable plastics are cheap and durable, however, the havoc they cause to the environment far outweighs their benefits.
The campaign, he stressed, will therefore “attack” the mindset of the ordinary Ghanaian on to-do things as was done in the days of old when there was no single use plastics.
The official launch of the ‘Zero Borla Fashion & Music’ is slated for August 31 at the Accra Sports Stadium, with some Ghanaian artistes billed to perform, including Shatta Wale, who also doubles as the ambassador for the campaign.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Nadia Nimako