Environmental advocates in Ghana joined their counterparts around the globe to mark this year’s World Cleanup Day aimed at bringing together millions of volunteers, government agencies, organisations and institutions to tackle global waste problem.
Organised by ‘Let do it Ghana’, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), this year’s event was supported by partners including Pernod Ricard Ghana, Street Sense Organisation, Zoomlion Ghana, Wild Life Society, Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises, Association of Ghana Industries (GRIPE-AGI), ECO ZOIL and CMA- CGM Ghana.
The volunteers converged on the Laboma Beach at Teshie in Accra over the weekend where they collected plastic waste that littered the beach, for segregation and recycling.
The Communications Director of ‘Let Do it Ghana’, Mr Lambert Donkor, briefing journalists after the exercise stressed the need to preserve the country’s beaches to promote tourism to increase Ghana’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
He said since 2018 World Cleanup Days have been organised engaging 70 million volunteers from 197 countries.
Mr Donkor urged the public to change their negative attitudes towards the environment, and called on state institutions in charge of sanitation to enforce the laws on waste management in the country.
According to him, similar exercise would be replicated in the regions to protect the environment.
The Corporate Relations Manager of Pernod Ricard Ghana, Ms Eunice Osei-Tutu, said advocacy must be sustained to create awareness to better manage the country’s resources.
She urged the public to reduce waste in their activities, and encouraged them to segregate the waste for recycling when disposing.
Ms Osei-Tutu advised the public to stop indiscriminate littering and polluting the environment to save lives.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI
