It is being carried out under a grant from the Japanese Government to separate plastic materials from other waste and use the plastic to recycle products for human use.

A representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) resident in the district, Ms. Akane Kobayashi, also known as AbaYaa, explained that the project would clear the towns of filth and make the beaches neat and attract more tourists.

She said all schools, public places, hospitals and lorry stations would be supplied with rubbish containers specially made from plastics for the collection of waste materials.

She said school pupils would be educated on how to segregate the plastics instead of putting any rubbish into the containers because the containers would be labelled like plastic materials, paper, glass for identification and proper segregation.

Miss Kobayashi noted that plastic materials were not waste but could be recycled to be used again or sold for money and people could gain from the business.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Shama, Mr Eric Cobbinah, observed that Ghanaians have been throwing away their own wealth and making the cities very filthy.

He said the segregation of these plastics would also bring money to both the youth and the old since no qualification would be needed to do this business adding “you will need to embrace the idea and get money for yourselves”.

Cobbinah said with the launch of the project, the people of the district would have to change their behaviour on how to dispose waste especially plastics since the segregation of these materials would bring a lot of money to all of us and this is an employment opportunity.

The Acting Queen Mother of the Shama Tradtional Area, Nana Akosua Gyamfiaba 11, quoting from the Bible (Genesis 1:28) said God instructed man to be stewards of the environment and make sure it was habitable for all mankind.

She said the development of plastics could be regarded as one of the most important technical achievements of recent times.

Nana Gyamfiaba observed that plastics had permeated virtually every aspect of our daily lives, paving the way for new inventions and replacing materials in existing products.

She said plastics were littered indiscriminately everywhere in the homes, public places, schools, beaches, hospitals and the general environment were inundated with plastics.

Nana Gyamfiaba said waste should be regarded as a great economic resource and recycled to bring more revenue not only to the district but the individuals.

She suggested the establishment of a plastic waste management fund to support the recycling of plastic materials adding “this fund could be resourced rom voluntary contributions from industries, government and other donors”.

From: Peter Gbambila, Shama.