Aflao, (V/R) July 9, GNA- About 400 pupils from 10 public and mission basic schools in Aflao on Saturday undertook a three-hour plastic waste picking exercise at Aflao including the environs of the Ghana-Togo frontier.

Two hundred mini-bags of plastic waste of different kinds, including shopping bags were collected at the close of the exercise, which was organized by the National Plastic Waste Management Taskforce (NPWMTF) under its nationwide "Chase the Plastic Waste" programme.

The exercise, which evidently rid the border town of the nasty spectacle of plastic waste tucked in the sands along the streets and flying in the sea breeze, was to herald the establishment of a Plastic Waste Collection Point (PWCP) in the township. Under the arrangement, inhabitants could now collect and send plastic waste to the collection point at Timber Market, which is within the town for a commission.

Togbe Amenya Fiti V, Paramount Chief of the Aflao Traditional Area told a durbar after the exercise that management of the non-degradable waste was a big problem in Aflao as elsewhere in the country. He said the problem had contributed to the pollution of wells, a major source of water in the area, resulting in the high incidence of typhoid high in the township.

Togbe Fiti commended the organizers for reaching Aflao with the programme and urged the pupils to serve as agents of change in the attitude towards waste disposal in the community.

Mr Divine Otoo, Chairman of the Taskforce said response to the exercise in all communities they had been was an indication of the desire among the people to have a cleaner environment.