Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
Pollution from plastic waste is a serious challenge for development in most countries across the globe. According to the United Nations Developments Programme (UNDP) Shareholder Conference Report (2019), Ghana creates about 1 million tons of waste plastics every year, out of which only 2 to 5% (22,000 tons – 55,000 tons) are reprocessed. While the remainder of the plastic waste end up in waste dump locations (38%), land (28%), sea (23%), or incinerated (11%). Ghana Environmental Protection Authority indicate that 2.58 million metric tons of raw plastics are imported into the country every year and 73% of this ends up as plastic waste. Only 19% is re-used. This implies that huge ratio of plastic waste ends up in the ecosystem. These plastic wastes litter the streets, land, gutters, sewerage, and other public places. Ghana is a net importer of plastic waste as shown in Figure 1. The net effect keeps widening on yearly bases and plastics are now occupies the 6th most dominated import in the sub region (ECOWAS).
Figure 1. Trade Value ($) of Plastics in Ghana
The challenge of plastic waste cluttering in the country is worsened when it rains heavily. The floods wash the plastic wastes (sachets, polythene bags and bottles) and more substances into the streets, choked sewerage systems and water areas which lead to urban floods and spread of water-borne illness such as diarrhea, typhoid fever, and cholera. Plastic cluttering also has serious repercussions on agriculture, sources of water in addition to marine and human lives (UNDP stakeholder Conference Report, 2019).
The initial plastic film was manufactured in 1907 that marks the start of international plastics manufacturing. Nonetheless, production of plastics worldwide accelerated in 1950 and within 65 years, yearly production of plastics shot up to about 200-fold to 381 million tonnes in 2015 (Ritchie and Roser, 2019). Plastics form part of the chemical components of high polymers which are mainly consist of extended sequence of molecules comprising repetitive elements of carbons. Due to its biochemical elements, plastics do not break up easily in smaller constituents or parts (Kortei and Quansah, 2016). Kortei and Quansah, (2016), further indicate that plastics partially decay over a period of 100 to 500 years. Industrial plastics such as polyolefin, polyethylene and polypropylene appeared resilient to erosion due to its extra antioxidant characteristics. Therefore, soil micro-organisms that crumble wood and other things are unable to decompose the intramolecular force in plastics.
Plastics are used to manufacture water bottles, bowls, cups, carrier bags, sachets water and for packaging etc. in Ghana. Plastics wares are very cheap, generally very convenient and cheapest resource for packaging. Sachet drinking water (“Pure Water”) is believed to be fresh and inexpensive because tap water is sometimes considered undrinkable. Waste sachet rubber and shopping bags are generally placed in waste bins or community rubbish bins or left to clutter the atmosphere.
Districts and metropolitan authorities have the responsibility to handle waste in their localities. Most of these authorities concentrate on gathering and transportation of waste to dumping sites rather than treatment and disposal of waste generated. Until recently, waste collected were not sorted. Waste compendium firms, association, and private informal individual collectors used trikes, and three-wheeled tractors to collect waste from houses, communities, and organizations. The companies charged a scheduled fee whilst the rest charged based on quantity collected. The districts and municipal assemblies provided landfills and dump sites where wastes collected were dumped at a fee. But rough road in deprived and heavily populated communities make waste disposal very difficult, leaving waste unattended to resulting in filthy and hazardous environment.
For more than a decade now, the private sector (with plastic waste pickers) has been engaged in waste disposal. Nearly 80% of waste disposal companies in the 254 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) of Ghana are managed through the private sector. The plastic waste are stored by plastic picker as shown in Figure 2 before they are sold to plastic waste recycle companies. This has enhanced rubbish collection services in the communities and metropolises (Keesman, 2019).