The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng is hopeful Ghana should be able to finance the management of plastic waste with the resumption of the plastic levy.
The charge which is paid by importers of plastic products is to help in controlling the impact of plastics in Ghana.
Currently, the absence of a clear-cut law to define the collection, management and utilization of the fee has somewhat contributed to the seeming inability of the government to deal with the plastic menace in Ghana.
Speaking at the forum where the Ministry, together with Nestle Ghana presented tricycles and other waste collection logistics to the Plastic Waste Pickers Association of Ghana Sector Minister, Prof. Frimpong Boateng says the issue should be reversed with the passage of the law to accommodate the interest of all stakeholders.
“We have revived what we call the plastic levy. We are working on it but there are some difficulties with the law which are being managed now. When the law is established and the waste and monies start coming in, we are all going to benefit and assist you.
The difficulty we have in this country is that, although we don’t have many recycling industries, we have enough to be able to recycle the plastic that we collect. But the difficulty is the collection and transportation. If we are able to solve that then we will go a long way in helping ourselves with plastic management,” he said.
Plastic waste management
As part of efforts to curb the problem of plastic waste in the country, the government set up a plastic levy where persons who import plastic products into Ghana would be made to pay a particular amount of money towards the management of plastic wastes.
This will be run by the Plastic Levy Fund Authority
When established, the Fund Authority would collaborate with research institutions specifically the Institute of Industrial Research (IIR) under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where 1% of the levy funds could be allocated to support research in finding ways of adding value to the plastic waste as a resource.