By Eunice Hilda Ampomah, GNA
Accra, Sept. 21, GNA – Mrs Kate Opoku, the
Country Leader of “Let’s Do It Ghana”, a civic movement, has said as part of
activities to reduce land, water and air pollution in the country, the Movement
would pay visits to businesses.
The visit is to have an encounter with
entrepreneurs and their companies on how their products are highly contributing
to pollution and discuss ways to find innovative ways to produce packages to
reduce pollution.
She said the step was taken after the
company had embarked on a clean-up exercise at the Afia Beach, Accra and
collected a heap of plastic waste from branded sachets rubbers, bottles and
other food packs.
This, she said, made them realise how much
some particular companies greatly contributed to land and water pollution with
their products, hence the need for the effort.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News
Agency, Mrs Opoku said, problems of pollution in the country have become
unbearable and needed to be addressed with urgency.
“Though, we know our clean-up exercise is
not necessarily the solution, the effort was to remind people on the need to
reduce plastic usage, reuse plastics and recycle them,” she said.
The Country Leader said the Movement decided
to do brand sorting of the rubbish collected after cleaning up the beach as
part of the observation of the “World Clean-up Day.”
She said Ghana was among the 150 countries
that took part in the exercise which is expected to enlighten people on the
need to properly manage solid and liquid waste and change their poor attitudes
towards sanitation.
Last year, the Movement was able to clear
about 100,000 tonnes of waste from the earth globally, she said, and expressed
the hope that they would clear more this year.
Mrs Opoku said Let’s Do It Ghana mobilised
about 2,500 volunteers nationwide last year to take part in the clean-up
exercise, however, the number increased this year as the exercise was
undertaken in many areas including Nima, East Legon, Koko beach, Koforidua, and
in the Ashanti Region.
Mrs Louisa Kabobah, the Conservation
Education Officer of the Ghana Wildlife Society, said Society partnered Let’s
Do It Ghana to embark on the exercise as its mission was to promote the
conservation of nature and wildlife in all its form.
She said the beach was chosen for the
exercise because it was a nesting site for sea turtles, and pollution posed a
danger to their lives.
One threat to sea turtles, she said, was the
heap of rubbish at beaches which made it difficult for the female ones to lay
eggs in the soil, a situation, she said could lead to their extinction and
affect the entire food chain.
Mrs Kabobah said the Society would continue
to collaborate with organisations with similar vision to sensitise the public
on why it is necessary to conserve nature and keep the environment clean.
The exercise was organised with support from
Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Bolt, Alliance Insurance Company, Street Sense
organisation, Lions Club, JCI Ghana, and Trash Collect.
GNA
