‘Indiscriminate Disposal Of Waste, A Threat To Environment’

Mr Carl Fiati, Head of Natural Resource of the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) said indiscriminate disposal of waste and open defecation at the beaches posed threats to the environment.

He said open defecation at the beaches deterred tourists and potential investors, resulting into enormous loss of economic revenue for the country.

Mr Fiati explained that the sea was an immense maritime space for creating wealth and socio-economic development, adding that coastal population growth and unregulated human activities had impacted adversely on the productivity of the sea.

He was speaking at a clean-up exercise organised by the EPA in collaboration with Ga South Municipal Assembly with the financial support from USAID to sensitise residents at Bortianor, a fishing community within the Municipality against indiscriminate disposal of waste.

The clean-up exercise formed part of this year’s World Oceans Day celebrations, which fell on June 10.

The United Nations set aside June 10 every year to be observed as World Oceans day to provide an opportunity for stakeholders to reflect on the benefits that oceans provide, and emphasised individual and collective responsibilities to sustainably manage the ocean in a way that met current needs without compromising those of future needs.

Mr Fiati, therefore urged the Assembly to provide adequate waste bins and toilet facilities at strategic locations and constantly empty them appropriately to deal with the menace.

He expressed worry over illegal fishing and reckless manner in which seas were being turned into dumping grounds, especially the disposal of huge volume of plastic wastes from land based sources and urged the public to observe good practices to save the sea and the environment.

Mr David Kabanda Kpanja, Head of Waste Management Unit, Ga South Municipal Assembly, said the Assembly had engaged Network Collections to deploy Compaction Truck for the collection of wastes on daily basis.

He said the Assembly had come out with a package to build affordable toilet facilities for households within the municipality and soon Environmental Health Officers would be detailed to the community to register every household.

He explained that the landlords would be allowed to pay for the cost of the toilet facilities in installment adding that the Assembly would not hesitate to take punitive action against those who would go against the sanitation law.

Mr Charles Aryitey Amah, the Assemblyman of Bortianor Aplaku Electoral Area expressed his preparedness to collaborate with the chiefs to enforce the sanitation laws to curb indiscriminate disposal of wastes into the sea.

“I will also engage the community and the Youth Employment Agency to embark on weekly clean-up exercises along the beaches,” he added.