Let's encourage waste separation in homes - CEO of JSO Group

The Chief Executive Officer of J. Stanley-Owusu & Company Ltd, Mr William Stanley-Owusu, has suggested that the country should take a bold step and start the implementation of separating waste at homes.

"We need a level of segregation, even if we cannot adopt the multi-layered streams of segregation that happens in Germany. For us in Ghana, we can start with just the household waste by separating the wet/organic waste from the rest, ' he said.

Mr Stanley-Owusu stated that the segregation would straight ahead create a business opportunity for the private sector, adding that "We need to have some policies and regulations to make this happen."

Mr Stanley-Owusu, who is also part of a 20-member plastic recycling project delegation to North Rhine Westphalia in Germany, said a ban on plastic use in the country was not the way to go as it would be counter productive.

"A blanket ban on plastics could be politically correct, but not realistic considering that our borders are open. A similar ban in Kenya failed because the plastics came in from neighbouring countries that made companies in-country non competitive," he stated.

He suggested that after the tour which had exposed actors on the value chain - the government and it's agencies, local assemblies, the private sector recyclers and civil society - to the opportunities and business models of plastic recycling, stakeholders should firm up a resolve to scale up plastic recycling activities which must start from waste segregation at source.