Ghana to ban Styrofoam in new push to end plastic waste

DW (English)

Ghana plans to ban Styrofoam in food packaging to fight plastic pollution. Green entrepreneurs have welcomed the move as a boost to create alternatives to plastics.

Transcript

00:00In Ghana, styrofoam food containers are everywhere. Cheap, convenient and a

00:06pollution nightmare. Meet Derek Safo, his team in Accra, is creating eco-friendly

00:14food packaging from recycled paper. So we are hoping that one day Ghana, like

00:22Kenya, Rwanda and other East African countries have sort of put in some

00:28measures to curb single-use plastics will have that policy because we see the

00:31solution in twofold. One, policymakers have to enact some policy or laws that will

00:35curb the use of single-use plastics and then two, there should be more advocacy

00:39to sort of sanitize the public on the need for them to switch from single-use

00:44plastics to alternatives. Environmentalists warn styrofoam is one of the

00:50worst plastic waste offenders. Plastic is such that when it goes into the soil it

00:56takes so many years, so many years, before it can decompose. And that one, even

01:04though it will just break into particles and form into a different hazardous

01:08you know component that our substance that you know have effect on the

01:13environment as well. Now, Ghana's government plans to act. When you go to buy

01:20your food and they put it in that white plastic something, you know, and then you

01:27finish eating, you just dump it. That is one of the biggest polluters. And so we're

01:32going to ban the importation of styrofoam plastics. We have to use paper

01:36packaging or aluminium foil for packaging our food.

01:41The move could fuel a green economy, reduce landfill waste by 60% by 2030 and empower

01:49entrepreneurs nationwide.

01:51Zero waste is achievable, but then we need to be conscious about it. We need to invest in the industry.

02:00We need to build our capacity. We need to also educate the public that these things, even though,

02:08have come to address some issues. But I think the hazards associated with it or the adverse

02:18impact associated with it is so high that we need to find an alternative solution so that we don't

02:26jeopardize the future of the next generation. As Ghana takes this bold step, young innovators are poised

02:35to build a future where plastic isn't the default but the exception.

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