Some Members of Parliament have called for a ban on plastics and polythene bags because of the serious environmental danger that they pose.
Leading the call for the ban on Tuesday to mark World Environment Day, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Wa West, Joseph Yieleh Chireh, and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Ledzekuku, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, said since plastic materials are not degradable and have seriously polluted the environment, it would be appropriate to ban them.
Dr Okoe Boye said water bodies, lagoons and the beaches have all been covered by plastic waste and are not only threatening the lives of those water bodies but are also making these natural resources lose their beauty thereby affecting tourism.
The Ledzekuku MP said the other alternative is to find a way to recycle the plastic waste that is generated but currently only two per cent of the 1.7 million tons of plastic waste that is generated annually in the country.
He said to encourage recycling of plastic waste in the country, the government must give tax incentives to companies that are willing to build recycling plants in the country to recycle plastic waste that is generated in the country.
He also suggested that a fund must also be established to also support these companies who are into recycling of plastic waste in the country so that they would be in a better position to recycle more of the waste.
He also said companies that produce in plastic materials, especially ‘bottled’ water, must have a way of encouraging customers to segregate plastic waste and sell them back to those companies as it is done in Germany, where every ‘bottled’ water is priced about 2 Euros with the content costing 1 Euro and the bottle also costing 1 Euro, meaning that if the customer returns the bottle to the sale point after consuming the water, he would be refunded 1 Euro.
The NPP MP for Krachi East and a Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Michael Gyato, said that the government was planning to impose more taxes on plastic materials and polythene bags to discourage importers and users from misusing the products.
“Mr Speaker, the situation where every item purchased at shop or at a mall is put in a separate polythene bag must be discouraged; rather more items purchased should be put in one polythene bag,” he stressed.
The Deputy Majority Leader and NPP MP for Dome/Kwabenya, Adwoa Safo, said it was time Ghana looked at the prospects of recycling plastic waste into raw material for building purposes since plastic is being recycled for building purposes.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr