Integrated plastic waste management practice project held for La Dade-Kotopon schools

A waste management project to pro­mote integrated plastic waste man­agement practices in public schools in the La Dade-Kotopon Municipality of the Greater Accra Region has ended.

The project was piloted in schools such as La Salem Basic School, La St Paul’s Primary / JHS, La Enobal Basic School and Associa­tion Community Basic School.

The 12-month project, which began in August last year, was implemented by the Ecological Restoration Club (ERC), a non-governmental organisation, with funding from the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Speaking at the programme, the Exec­utive Director of the club, Mr Emmanuel Odjam-Akumatey, said LaDMA was selected for the project due to its closeness to the coastal area where plastics were mostly washed into the Atlantic Ocean, which in the end affect tourism and marine biodiversity.

“Our overall goal is to educate and em­power school pupils and use them as plastic ambassadors to bring significant contribution in reducing plastic pollution in the Munici­pality.

“By educating and empowering young learners who then become plastic ambas­sadors, we could make a significant contri­bution to reducing plastic pollution in the municipality,” he said.

According to him, the stipulated period of the project addressed issues on waste man­agement through interactions with learners and school authorities, organised capacity workshops, formed environmental clubs and provided guidelines to help understand and develop their capacity towards sound envi­ronmental practices and behavioural change.

The Executive Director said that (Plastic Waste Collection and Disposal) by-laws, were developed in 2022, but needed its adoption and enforcement to help the assembly on effective waste management monitoring.

The Municipal Chief Executive of LaD­MA, Solomon Kotey Nikoi, said the project tackled the most pressing environmental issues of plastic waste because plastic pollu­tion was a global challenge that affected the ecosystem, marine life and human health.

Mr Nikoi said the project, above all, em­braced a culture to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic materials rather than disposing it indiscriminately in the environment.

The MCE hinted that environmental edu­cation had been integrated into the curricu­lum in schools in the municipality to ensure that learners and people in the municipality were equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills to become environmentally con­scious citizens.

 BY VICTOR A. BUXTON