The Director of the Plastic Waste Recycling Programme, Quaranchie Adama-Tettey has advised government to consider recycling plastics instead of outrightly banning its use.<\/p>\n
His call comes a day after President John Mahama served notice that the use of plastic will be banne<\/a>d<\/strong><\/span> in Ghana if plastic producers fail to ensure the right disposal.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”81jOn0UN1eWNhbvDvg9mMUooOb0xvu1a”]Mr Adama-Tettey however argues that government will be denying the country of essential resources generated from plastics if it goes ahead to implement\u00a0such a policy.<\/p>\n \u201c… Plastic waste is not actually waste, it is a resource because plastic is generated from petro-chemical products which means it comes from oil so it means that if you are recycling plastics then you are converting it back to oil … Plastics are used in the production of bitumen, in the production of oil…”<\/p>\n “Anybody who wants to do any critical analysis of this issue should look at what plastic waste is being used for in\u00a0 other parts of the country .”<\/p>\n He recalled that in 2007 the debate for plastics to be banned reignited but \u201cmanufacturers again challenged it.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, plastic manufacturers had to rather \u201cput value on plastic waste so that it\u00a0could\u00a0be recycled.\u201d<\/p>\n Impose tax on plastics\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n He further revealed that manufacturers and other stakeholders in that same period, \u00a0asked government to “impose a sustainable tax which is called the environmental tax to help set up the plastic waste fund.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Adama-Tettey believes government can generate more revenue if it focuses on the plastic waste recycling programme.<\/p>\n “Government should impose a tax on plastics and government has done this since 2001 and our figures is that government has been able to raise over 65 million ghana cedis from that tax..”<\/p>\n According to him, if government sets up a plastic waste recycling fund with the 65 million cedis generated so far, it will be able to “give soft loans to the private sector to expand the recycling capacity.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Efe Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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