Ghana faces hazardous chemical threats – EPA
Ghana faces a huge public health threat from hazardous chemicals in plastics if efforts are not strengthened to enforce waste management regulations.
The National Focal Person on Chemical and Waste-related Multilateral Agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Sam Adu-Kumi, says the chemicals from the tonnes of plastics generated in the country do not only pose risks to the environment but to the human population.
Speaking at the opening of a three-day conference on sustainable waste management in Accra yesterday, he said “recent studies show that about 13,000 hazardous chemicals are found in plastics alone and 13 of these are of high concern because they are associated with endocrine disruptions which interfere with the body’s hormones, carcinogenicity, which increases the incidence of cancer, reproductive toxicity, among others, that increasingly affects the ecology.”
“Most of these plastics are found in solid waste and these waste are coming from our homes, industries and other places and now plastics supersede all the waste generated in this country so we must take urgent steps to combat plastic pollution and reduce these threats,” he urged.
Organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the 4th Global Forum of Cities for Circular Economy (GFCCE) was to rally African countries to adopt sustainable solid waste management practices to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 and 12 which seeks to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable while reducing waste generation by 2030.
The Executive Director of EPA, Henry Kwabena Kokofu, said strong policies and stringent enforcement of regulations while creating a level playing field for private players to turn their services into viable business models like recycling of waste materials, must underpin sustainable solid waste management.
“EPA believes this must be driven based on the principle of circular economy. In addition, waste management must have an inclusive approach taking citizens at the epicenter and promoting shared responsibility with engineered behaviour change strategies, policies and services,” he said.
The Municipal Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Elizabeth Sackey, in outlining strategies to improve solid waste management in the metropolis indicated that a national review of existing sanitation and waste management laws was ongoing.
She said the AMA for instance was reviewing its solid waste collection agreement with providers to include separation of organics and plastics.
“Solid waste collection service providers are obliged in the new service agreement to increase collection coverage in their respective concessions to at least 95 per cent over a period of five year ending 2027.”
“From the first quarter of 2024, AMA will award concessions to informal cooperatives to collect waste from low-income communities and selected markets, where collection with regular equipment will be difficult and more expensive,” she added.
For her part, the Director-General of the CSE, Dr Sunita Narain, noted that countries continue to develop, more waste would be generated which is why government must adopt innovative measures to manage it.
Data from the Ghana Plastic Association (GPA) indicate that about 87 per cent of industries in Ghana are heavily using plastic materials for packaging. It says Ghana generates approximately 840,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year, and approximately 9.5 per cent of that, is collected for recycling.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH
