The Ghana Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and Fuels (GHACCO) has called for more efforts to be made to address the hazards posed by plastic waste in the country.

It called on Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and the Environmental Protection Agency to dialogue with all stakeholders like civil society organisations and the media to support government’s initiative for behavioural change among the citizenry towards the solving of the plastic hazard in cities and communities.

The call was made on Tuesday in statement issued by Mr Mohammed Aminu Lukumanu, the Chief Executive Officer of GHACCO, and copied the Ghana News Agency as the country commemorates this year’s World Environmental Day.

The Day was held under the theme: “Beat Plastic Pollution,” which calls on individuals to take charge of their surroundings and realise the danger posed by the daily usage of plastic products.

The statement urged Ghanaians to remain concerned about Household Air Pollution (HAP) as a result of the use of traditional cooking technologies and wood-based fuels for indoor cooking, which causes avoidable loss of lives and ailments, especially among women and children.

It said studies recently conducted by GHACCO in collaboration with the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) found that firewood and charcoal remains the main cooking fuel to over 70 per cent of Ghanaian households.

The statement said the study also revealed that while 41.3 per cent of the households use firewood as their main fuel, 31.5 per cent use charcoal as the main fuel.

“The extensive and unsustainable exploitation of our forest resources especially in the Savannah areas, for wood fuels continue to expose the country to severe environmental consequences and climate hazards,” it said.

The statement appealed to government and development partners to promote and support sustainable wood fuel production in the country hence the need for woodlots development, waste wood processing into alternative fuels and regeneration of the forest resources.

“This effort must be complemented by the promotion and adoption of high efficiency cooking technologies and cleaner fuels especially in the rural and peri-urban households of the Savannah, forest and coastal belts, to regulate the demand for the wood fuel resources in Ghana” it said.