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President John Dramani Mahama’s hint that the country may consider banning plastic products from the markets should its producers refuse to manage the waste properly has been lauded by the public.

The president last Saturday observed that plastic waste is becoming a threat to life as it leaves lot of junk in the country, hence, the need to address it forthwith.

Views sampled from the streets of Accra by the DAILY HERIATGE showed that many Ghanaians are in support and have described the call by the first gentleman of the land as “appropriate.”

Thomas Tweneboah, a staff of KPMG agreed with the president and said proper education on how to manage plastic products is the way to go.
“It is a proper initiative, but before it is executed we have to know what will replace the plastic products and how we can use it to help the environment, otherwise it won’t solve anything,” he pointed out.
According to him, the directives on the use of plastic products could help only in the initial stages, but may not last long since they will not be enforced properly.

“We can pass laws on plastics, but as time goes on; we will come back to the state which we are seeing now. We have seen many policies which are not enforced as it should be. We don’t use it and when it becomes a problem, we will point fingers at people,” he explained.
Also, Emmanuel Adafia, a worker of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation urged Ghanaians to subscribe to the ban on plastics since it is one of the causes of flooding in the country.

“The president should do something about it, many people have died because of this same plastic waste problem, and we cannot wait to lose another 200 lives. It cannot decompose when it enters the soil, which means famers will not produce more to help the economy. When it happens so will the government benefit from the famers? No,” he opined.

A food vendor, Rakia Adams said although plastic is economical than the leaves, customers prefer the food in the leaves than the polythene.

On the contrary, Richard Amo, a civil engineer said the problem can be solved if there are more waste bins in the communities adding, “even though the society is not doing the right thing, I think if steps are taken to provide bins at vantage points, it will help.
“The people should be given more education on how to use waste bins rather than placing a ban on plastics because the manufacturers also provide employment to a large number of people,” he stated.