Kwame Ekpe displaying a copy of the litterbags to journalists
DRIVERS of public vehicles will soon have litterbags affixed to their car seats as a means of controlling the waste in the country.
Management of Gorsel SNT Co. Ltd has rolled out an initiative dubbed, ‘Clean Car, Clean City (4C)’ – a project aimed at reducing wastes to their barest minimum in public vehicles, including Metro Mass and State Transport Corporation (STC).
At a press conference on Wednesday, Kwame Ekpe, Director of Gorsel STN, outlined strategies the company had put in place to ensure effective implementation of the project.
These include the introduction of litterbags which would be fixed to the back of car seats; the establishment of ‘Xchange Points’ with ‘Precobins’ at the various bus terminals to be manned by ‘Litter Marshalls’, a group of trained and appropriately equipped attendants; and the deployment of “Kwik-movers”, a removal team on call to ensure that the “precobins” at the various “Xchange Points” do not get overfilled and possibly spill over.
Mr Ekpe said following the pilot phase of the project in some STC vehicles, the feedback was positive with a significant number of drivers and passengers asking when it would officially take-off.
He added that user agencies such as the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Progressive Transport Owners’ Association (PROTOA), among others, had been co-operative except a few individual members of these agencies who had slowed down their pace.
Besides, he said that he had written to and engaged the Minister of Sanitation & Water Resources, and the Minister of Transportation who had given their endorsements to the programme but are yet to make any concrete contribution to it.
The litterbags are made of non-woven polypropylene fabrics of various sizes. They are eco-friendly and have a number of qualities which include non-toxicity, high tensile strength and photodegradable.
Besides, they are non-water permeable, anti-bacterial, non-allergic and washable.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio & Rhodaline N.A. King