A Joint Committee of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 commenced a decolonized meeting at Effutu Municipal Capital of Winneba, Ghana on the theme: “Plastic Waste Management: Challenges and Prospects in Implementing Community Policies”. The main objective of the meeting is to inform legislators about the strategies and mechanisms developed for an environmentally sound management of plastic waste within the bloc.Delegates at the meeting which is scheduled to end on August 3, 2024 are therefore expected to among other things discuss, Plastic Waste Management, challenges and prospects in implementing community policies as well as coming up with strategies at confronting the menace within the ECOWAS sub-region. Three of the 14 Standing Committees of the Parliament, comprising the Committees on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Energy and Mines and Infrastructure, constitute the Joint Committee at the meeting at Winneba in Ghana.Delivering his address, the 3rd Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and Member of Parliament for the Effutu Constituency, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin noted that the impact of plastic pollution on the sub-region’s eco system causes a significant threat to its survival.He noted that ECOWAS generates about 17million tones of plastic waste annually with only 10% recycled, a situation he said was alarming and needed urgent attention by leaders in the sub-region.The Effutu Law Maker intimated that the lack of proper management of plastic waste leads to the accumulation of plastic waste on the environment, thereby polluting the oceans, rivers and soils as well as threatening bio-diversity.According to him, collective actions and collaborations to propose effective solutions for plastic waste management is required in tackling the waste menace which he noted was an environmental threat and an obstruction to the economic development of ECOWAS member states. Hon. Afenyo-Markin also stated the impact of public health is also a cause of concern with increased risk of illness linked to pollution and contamination of water resources.He said that ECOWAS being aware of the urgency of the situation has adopted a community policy for the development and management of plastic waste, adding that the ambitious and necessary policy aims to promote the reduction, recycling and recovery of plastic waste whiles ensuring the responsible management of non- recyclable waste.In addition, Hon. Afenyo- Markin announced that ECOWAS had adopted the regulation on the control of plastic products and the harmonization of the environmentally sound management of plastic waste in member states to alleviate the difficulties experienced in effectively implementing the regulations already in place.He charged participants to use the meeting to think deeply to device innovative and sustainable solutions to forestall possible food insecurity likely to be experienced within the sub-region if proper waste management practices are not adhered to.Hon. Afenyo -Markins proposed for the ECOWAS Parliament to as a matter of urgency call on member states to invest massively in research and development, encourage technological innovation in the recycling and recovery of plastic waste as well as strengthening the capacities of local players in the responsible management of plastic waste. According to him there is also the need to adopt the school curriculum to include compulsory subjects on the fight against climate change in general and plastic waste in particular to better prepare the future generation to these new challenges.
STORY BY: CHARLES BAAH ABOAGYE -ISD
Last modified: July 31, 2024
