Zoomlion has passionately appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to reconsider his decision to ban the use of plastics in Ghana.
According to the waste management company, the decision of the President, if implemented, will have adverse effect on the economy because a lot of people will go out of work.
“I can understand the frustrations of His Excellency the President to ban plastics in the country. But respectfully, I beg to differ. A lot of companies will shut down and the rates of unemployment will escalate if the decision is implemented,” Robert Coleman, Communications Manager of Zoomlion told Kasapafmonline.com in an interview Monday.
President John Dramani Mahama last weekend warned that government was becoming fed-up with containing the use of plastics in the country and could soon ban it from the system.
Poor attitude towards the disposal of waste has been the bane of the government because of its numerous implications on the environment. The nation on daily basis through the various Assemblies spends thousands of cedis to collect plastic and other waste materials from the system.
The President believes that the country can no longer continue to spend huge money on plastic waste and the best option is a complete ban of the product from the system.
But Mr. Coleman holds a contrary view and believes that the solution to curbing the problem is about the mode of managing the situation.
“What we have as a country is not an issue of plastic but an issue of unmanaged plastics,” he said.
He urged the President to institute measures for the effective management of plastic waste in the country.
One key measure he outlined is the imposition of high tariff on plastic products imported into the country to make it unattractive.
Revenue from the tariff, he said, could be used to recover the waste from the system while creating jobs for the unemployed.
According to him, another innovative way that could be explored to help curb the menace is the setting up of buy-back centers at some vantage points in the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDCEs) for plastic waste collectors to sell their products.
“If we are able to use part of the revenue from the tax that we will collect to set up buy-back centers in at least twenty-one district assemblies, do we know the number of employment that we will be creating and the amount of revenue that we will be generating? So, the problem is how best we can manage the situation.”
By: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana
