Environment Minister, experts tour dump sites

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Mr Mahama Ayariga, yesterday led a team of environmental experts to some dump and landfill sites in Accra to examine their impact on the environment and the communities where they are sited.

Mr Ayariga said there was the need to comprehensively deal with the menace of plastic waste otherwise it could have negative impact on the environment and the health of the people.

To deal with the problem, he said the MESTI had presented a proposal to the Cabinet on the management of the production and importation of plastics into the country.

The move, according to the sector minister, formed part of the ministry’s plan to deal with plastics that had taken over all the dumpsites.

Purpose of visit

Mr Ayariga said the purpose of the tour was to ascertain conditions at the various dump and landfills sites in Accra and also find out the impact of their operations on residents.

Some of the dumpsites and landfill sites visited were Abokobi, Mallam Market, Agbloboshie Market and Sabah landfill site at Oblogo.

The presence of plastic materials — particularly polythene bags used in the packaging of sugar, gari and porridge — were an eyesore at all the dumpsites the team visited.

The government has placed a ban on light plastic materials with less than 20 microns (one millionth of a metre in terms of density), such as the ones used in packaging sugar, gari and porridge.

The ban was to take effect from November last year.

EPA guidelines

The Deputy Director of Built Environment Department at the EPA, Mrs Cindy Badoa, said the department was reviewing the guidelines on the operations of landfill sites in the country.

That, she said, would enable the various assemblies to adopt the best practices on how landfill sites ought to be managed.

 Mrs Badoa said although the EPA had guidelines on waste dumpsites, the assemblies were not using them and this had made it difficult for the waste problem in certain towns and cities to be addressed.

She said the new guidelines would include technology for managing waste.