ECOWAS committee holds community engagement on effective plastic waste management

To engage diverse stakeholders to gather inputs and create awareness on effective plastic waste management, the ECOWAS Parliament Joint Committee decolonized meeting members have organized a community engagement at the Kojo Beedu Community Centre in Winneba to reduce plastic pollution and promote circular economy principles.

The engagement was strategically planned to ensure representation from various communities in the Effutu Municipality and stakeholder groups in a bid to foster an inclusive and collaborative approach to the fight against plastic pollution within the ECOWAS sub-region.

The engagement exercise provided a platform to solicit views and concerns of the citizenry around plastic pollution, its impact on society, effective management practices, as well as challenges in implementing community policies in fighting the menace.

Addressing the meeting on the theme “Plastic Waste Management: Challenges in Implementing Community Policy and the Way Forward”, the Effutu Municipal Chief Executive, Alhaji Zubairu Kassim stated that the chosen theme was one that every household could relate with and one that needed serious attention even though it has been neglected for far too long.

According to him, the impacts of plastic waste pollution are manifold and include food security, economy, water safety, and ecosystem with devastating impacts on fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism, especially in coastal communities.

He noted that the purpose of the community engagement forum was to bring together key stakeholders in the ECOWAS Sub-Region, Governments, Development Partners, and civil society, to enhance knowledge and share information on plastic pollution and effective Plastic Waste Management in the bloc.

Alhaji Zubairu Kassim therefore pledged the Assembly’s readiness to ensure the implementation of decisions arising out of the discussions and contributions at the forum to aid in combatting the canker of plastic waste in the communities.

On his part, the Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and leader of Ghana’s delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin underscored the importance of the meeting in shaping regional policies and actions that could turn the tide against plastic pollution.

He intimated that the forum was an opportunity to showcase local initiatives, learn from the experiences of the country’s West African neighbours and implement solutions that could be replicated across the sub-region.

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