Addressing poor plastic waste management

Major Takudzwa Kadonzvo

Plastic waste management is a big issue all over the world. People are currently working to find better ways to handle plastic waste. In Ghana and other parts of the world a good chunk of the plastic waste ends up in water bodies like rivers, lakes and oceans; thereby posing danger to aquatic life. In other cases, the plastics are burnt and they release toxic compounds which have an adverse impact on the global climate.

Major shared that he has always lived in places where people practiced poor plastic management, but the extent of the problem in Ghana was overwhelming. There are empty plastic water bottles, sachets and plastic bags littering almost all parts of the capital, Accra. Apparently, the supply of plastics does not seem to be dying out since they are produced locally. This only means that he will be seeing more and more plastic waste mismanagement if he did not try and take action against it. He added, "I am an Engineering student. The main reason why I chose this career path is because I want to solve problems through design and making skills. Major engaged the Berekuso, Ayim and Bola communities in, Accra, Ghana in a clean-up activity and led awareness raising sessions. He describes his act as follows: "In Berekuso and Ayim we had direct contact with the village leaders and teachers. These people helped us to organize the people and students that we were targeting. I worked with the African Transformers in Ayim and we taught the pupils in the local school craft skills using plastic waste. On the Borla Beach clean-up I partnered with Ahote, African Transformers and the Ashesi Leo Club. In all, 55 people took part in the Borla Beach clean-up activity. The participants included students from Ashesi University, 45 of which were members of the Ashesi Leo club and others from the African Transformers and the Ahote Sanitation Project. On the day, a number of children who were playing at the beach joined us in the clean-up activity."