A number of Small, Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating within the plastics value chain across the country have been selected to receive technical and financial support from the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI).
These SMEs will be supported to undertake some activities aimed at encouraging sound environmental practices as part of the implementation of a circular economy framework for the sector.
The sector minister, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie who revealed this during the Minister’s ‘Meet the Press’ series in Accra yesterday said the technical and financial support would be used to undertake some selected activities that would discourage the use of ‘orphan plastics’ such as cutlery, plates, straws, ‘banku’ rubber among others .
Others include targeting environmentally sound disposal of non-recyclable plastics to intensify the recovery collection of easily recyclable waste.
He said apart from the behavioural change and awareness campaign embarked upon by the Ministry and its partners aimed at promoting plastic segregation in schools as well as integrating plastic management programmes into school curriculum, the Ministry is working with the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly to collect, sort and recycle the plastics.
“MESTI and EPA in collaboration with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NACCA) and the Ghana Education Service have integrated climate change and green economy into primary and Junior High Schools in Ghana to improve knowledge and understanding of climate change,” he added.
Dr. Afriyie said his outfit together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a framework to guide issues on climate change.
This framework he said include a carbon market framework to help reduce green house gas emissions by providing organizations with a financial incentive to minimize carbon footprints as the government continues to engage countries such as Switzerland , Singapore and Sweden to invest in carbon market.