GRIPE, ASA Nwura marks World Environment Day with ‘Trash Walk’ campaign

GRIPE, ASA Nwura marks World Environment Day with ‘Trash Walk’ campaign

The Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE) and ASA Nwura have commemorated the 2022 World Environment Day in the Western Region with a walk and clean-up exercise.

Dubbed ‘Trash Walk’ campaign, it was aimed at reiterating the need to keep one’s surroundings clean, devoid of plastic pollution.

The Project Manager at GRIPE, Ms. Louisa Kabobah, noted that “one of the objectives of GRIPE is to educate and advocate for sustainable waste management practices by engaging the general public to reduce the impact of post-consumer plastics in communities and the environment”.

Urging the public to refrain from throwing garbage, especially post-consumer plastics such as polythene bags, and bottles, into open drains.

Ms. Kabobah suggested that residents must find waste bins to discard their used plastics.

She further noted that “Practicing proper waste management and segregation can help keep our surroundings clean and allow the free flow of water during this rainy season”.

Sharing same concern about environmental cleanliness, the Operations Director of ASA Nwura, Mr. Michael Ofori Appiah, also remarked that protecting the environment cannot be done in isolation but rather requires collective efforts of all community members.

“Protecting the environment cannot be isolated, it must be a collective effort of community members, thus, governmental bodies and advocacy groups can only do part and not entirely.

Motivating community members to recognise the relevance of World Environment Day and act, Mr. Michael Ofori Appiah, observed that although people are aware of the need to protect the environment, it is important to take advantage of days such as the World Environment Day to sensitize individuals on some important strategies to protect the environment.

He stressed, “it is important to take advantage of days such as World Environment Day to sensitize individuals on the importance and sustainable strategies to protect the environment “.

The ‘Trash Walk’ campaign and the clean-up exercise were held in Takoradi with visits to households, markets centres and local shops to raise awareness of the proper waste disposal and segregation was also graced by some opinion leaders, stakeholders and volunteer groups in the community

Meanwhile, some traders who ply their trading activities in the community blamed the local authorities for doing very little in tackling waste and sanitation issues in the area.

A trader, Madam Kessiwa, who shared her sentiment, mentioned that “although the Municipal Assembly takes waste collection charges from us, the waste bins in the market can be full for days without being collected, thus, people are discouraged from continually dumping into waste bins, but rather find other convenient means, such as open drains, and gutters to dump their refuse”.

She believed that “if the Municipal Assembly can ensure that waste bins are emptied on a regular basis, the market square and its surroundings will be tidy”.

The 2022 World Environment Day was marked under the theme “Only One Earth” with the focus on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature”

In all, about 193 countries across the globe commemorated the day with focus on sensitizing the general public on proper waste management methods, particularly addressing issues of plastics, and choked gutters in communities that have challenges with water flow anytime it rains.

GRIPE is an industry-led coalition formed under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) with a stake in the plastics sector, to integrate long-term sustainable waste management solutions, particularly around plastics. GRIPE was launched in 2017 by Fan Milk PLC, Guinness Ghana Limited, Unilever Ghana PLC, Nestle Ghana Limited, PZ Cussons, Dow Chemical Limited, Voltic (GH) Limited, and Coca-Cola Equatorial Africa.

The Accra Brewery Limited, Pernod Ricard, Mohinani Group, KGM Industries Limited, Finepack Industries Limited, and Universal Plastic Products & Recycling have since joined the coalition. GRIPE builds strong, long-lasting partnerships with NGOs, community groups, funding agencies, media, academia, private sector, and government, to keep plastics in the economy, but out of the environment.

ASA Nwura is a waste recovery company based in the Western Region that provides low-cost plastic waste recovery, collections, and recycling infrastructure with an effective waste pickers network in managing plastic waste.