Ghana plans to ban Styrofoam in food packaging to fight plastic pollution. Green entrepreneurs have welcomed the move as a boost to create alternatives to plastics.
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00:00In Ghana, styrofoam food containers are everywhere. Cheap, convenient and a
00:06pollution nightmare. Meet Derek Safo, his team in Accra, is creating eco-friendly
00:14food packaging from recycled paper. So we are hoping that one day Ghana, like
00:22Kenya, Rwanda and other East African countries have sort of put in some
00:28measures to curb single-use plastics will have that policy because we see the
00:31solution in twofold. One, policymakers have to enact some policy or laws that will
00:35curb the use of single-use plastics and then two, there should be more advocacy
00:39to sort of sanitize the public on the need for them to switch from single-use
00:44plastics to alternatives. Environmentalists warn styrofoam is one of the
00:50worst plastic waste offenders. Plastic is such that when it goes into the soil it
00:56takes so many years, so many years, before it can decompose. And that one, even
01:04though it will just break into particles and form into a different hazardous
01:08you know component that our substance that you know have effect on the
01:13environment as well. Now, Ghana's government plans to act. When you go to buy
01:20your food and they put it in that white plastic something, you know, and then you
01:27finish eating, you just dump it. That is one of the biggest polluters. And so we're
01:32going to ban the importation of styrofoam plastics. We have to use paper
01:36packaging or aluminium foil for packaging our food.
01:41The move could fuel a green economy, reduce landfill waste by 60% by 2030 and empower
01:49entrepreneurs nationwide.
01:51Zero waste is achievable, but then we need to be conscious about it. We need to invest in the industry.
02:00We need to build our capacity. We need to also educate the public that these things, even though,
02:08have come to address some issues. But I think the hazards associated with it or the adverse
02:18impact associated with it is so high that we need to find an alternative solution so that we don't
02:26jeopardize the future of the next generation. As Ghana takes this bold step, young innovators are poised
02:35to build a future where plastic isn't the default but the exception.