Accra, May 13, GNA - The National Plastic Waste Management Taskforce (NPWMT) on Friday said the ban on the sale of sachet water would not be a solution to the plastic menace in the metropolis. Mr Devine Otoo, Chairman of NPWMT, therefore appealed to government to enact a law to compel polluters to pay levies on their products. Speaking in an interview, Mr Otoo said polluters had expressed their readiness to pay the levy to find a lasting solution to plastic waste.

He said the Ministry of Environment and Science was steadily working on the law and appealed to government to expedite action and provide the NPWMT with more logistics for their operations.

Mr Otoo said the use of plastics had become indispensable in the country and stressed the need for institutions to educate the public on its management.

He said the National Association of Sachet Water Producers and Ghana National Plastic Manufacturers Association and Accra Metropolitan Assembly were assisting the Task force with 40-50 vehicles in the "Operation Chase the Plastics" programme.

The operation, he said, would overhaul the system of plastic waste as well as generate interest and raise awareness of the public on plastics collection.

He said under the programme the task force would employ close to over 2,000 persons to assist in the collection of plastics in the metropolis starting from May 21.

"Under the programme, we hope to get evidence of our work in the city within a six-month period," he said adding, "all we need is to get the relevant facilities to work with."

He expressed the hope that the programme would be extended to the regional capitals.

Mr Otoo called for more education on waste disposal stressing, "If people stop littering and plastic waste is disposed of in bins, its management will become easier and the cost of managing the waste will reduce."

Mr Derrick Ayeh, Managing Director of Plastic Waste Management Ghana Limited, said his firm was engaged in collecting plastic waste in the metropolis and had far exported 160,000 tonnes of plastics to Asia and North America.

Mr Ayeh identified the segregation of waste as a major problem confronting their operations.