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The Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE) on Saturday held its Community Buy-Back programme at Nungua in the Greater Accra Region to sensitise the community about the negative impact of littering plastic waste.

The programme was also aimed at educating the public on the need to segregate plastic waste for recycling and creating an economic value from it.

The Buy-Back programme is based on the understanding that people can exchange plastics with cash by separating and selling their post-consumer plastic waste.

GRIPE is an industry-led coalition formed under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) in 2017 to integrate sustainable waste management solutions and advocate improved waste management practices amongst others.

Madam Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah, the Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, said solving sanitation issues did not rest on the shoulders of government alone but a collective effort by all to ensure that waste was collected in a sustainable manner.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, she said the coalition in collaboration with the AGI was ensuring to have a long term plan with government and vital stakeholders to safeguard the sustainable use of plastics in the country, adding that, with the right practices and education on the use of plastics, they could be used in a viable manner.

Madam Owusu-Ankomah said there were collection points for the plastic waste across the country where the plastics were collected for rewards adding that, the GRIPE logo with the Ghana flag, the recycle logo with three arrows should be looked out for at the collection points.

She advised the public to make it a habit to separate waste to make Ghana an example in good waste management.

Mr Christopher Gyan-Mensah, the Project Manager for 'Sesan' Recycling, said GRIPE's initiative was good and showed that, companies producing products with the use of plastics cared for the environment and the wellbeing of their customers.

He called on the public especially religious bodies to use their platforms to create awareness on the need to keep the environment clean and segregation of waste.

The coalition also held free breast screening for the women in the community as part of the Buy-Back programme October edition to create awareness on the need for regular breast checks to prevent health implications.

Dr. Solomon Brokeman, Consultant Surgeon, C&J Medical Hospital, said there were no definite causes of breast cancer but risk factors such as; early menstruation, obesity, late childbearing and been passed on from affected family members could make one have cancer.

He said women should visit hospitals for regular check-up or do self-examination of their breast and seek medical attention early should their notice changes in their breast to enable them be cured or prevent it from degenerating into health problems.

The companies that makeup GRIPE include; Coca-cola, Voltic Ghana, Dow Chemical West Africa Limited, Fan Milk Ghana Limited, Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, Nestle Ghana, PZ Cussons Ghana Limited, Unilever Ghana Limited, KGM industries and the Mohinani Group.

To reach a systematic change in the long-term, GRIPE's is focused on data and research, public advocacy, solutions implementation and Multi-stakeholder collaboration.