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Assembly orders Repatrn Limited to disinfest premises

The Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Public Health Unit has ordered Repatrn Limited, which exports waste plastic bottles for recycling, to stop dumping the material in the Kpone Kokompe area.

This is because the improper storage of the plastic waste has led to the breeding of some strange insects, houseflies and mosquitoes.

The order followed a petition by the Tema branch of Toyota Ghana Company Limited, one of the establishments within the enclave, to the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Assembly (KKMA) that its premises had being invaded by insects from an adjoining yard used by Repatrn Limited to store the plastic waste.

Speaking to the Ghanaian Times here yesterday, the Head of the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Public Health Unit, Jacob Arnold Sepenoo, said he had also ordered the management of Repatrn Limited to disinfest the yard every three days and to evacuate bags of plastic waste littered around the yard, which he described as an eyesore.

Mr Sepenoo noted that the company, which owns three storage yards in the area, had been urged to furnish the assembly with its disinfestations plan in addition to other documents, as it was yet to get approval from the assembly for its operations.

He said the invasion of the insects was a serious concern to the assembly, as it defeated its objective of ensuring good sanitation in the community.

The Head of Tema Service Toyota, Mr Samuel Kofi Amponsah, said the invasion by the insects had been persistent for more than five months, and it had almost become a ritual for personnel to spray insecticides in the various offices, warehouse and canteen each morning to kill the insects and make the place habitable.

He said appeals to the management of Repatrn Limited to do something about the issue fell on deaf ears, so on August 19, Toyota Ghana Company Limited wrote to the KKMA for redress, to which the assembly followed up with a visit to the scene last week.

When contacted, the officer in charge of Repatrn Limited, Moses Dorgbefu, explained that the company, as part of its efforts to deal with plastic pollution in the country, was buying the plastic bottles to bale and export to recycling companies in South Africa, Germany and the United States of America.

According to him, the overflow of plastic materials in their compound was due to delays in the arrival of machines (from abroad) to be used for baling the plastic bottles.

He said some of the equipment had arrived at the Tema Port, adding he was hopeful that by November next month, they would be able to start production and export.

Mr Dorgbefu said they had been fumigating their yards but unfortunately the rains had rendered their efforts futile.

FROM GODFRED BLAY GIBBAH, TEMA

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