Akufo-Addo launches National Plastic Management Policy Oct 1

Ghana and Indonesia have been selected to manage plastic waste comprehensively under the Global Plastic Action Partnership GPAP).

On October 1, 2019, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will announce Ghana's agreed approach to the curtailment of plastic pollution in Ghana.

The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who made this known Wednesday morning said the government was partnering with the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), a new initiative created by a coalition of influential public and private leaders to fast-track plastic pollution action around the world to deal with plastic waste in Ghana.

The GPAP is hosted at the World Economic Forum.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said President Akufo-Addo, and the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, will formally announce the launch of the initiative on October 1 in Accra.

He said the National Plastic Management Policy will leverage the comprehensive management of plastics to drive sustainable development, green job creation, and environmental protection.

He noted that as one of the fastest growing economies in the world and a leading political and economic force in Africa, Ghana has the potential to catalyse a new era of plastic action across the continent.

The Minister of Information explained that the Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership will launch in close coordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform, which will promote sustainable waste recovery in Ghana through connecting stakeholders across the waste management chain.

This, he said will support the existing work being carried out by the government of Ghana, as well as successful initiatives being led by entrepreneurs and civil society actors at the local level, to accelerate the reduction of plastic waste and pollution in Ghana.

About the Global Plastic Action Partnership

• The Global Plastic Action Partnership envisions a world free of plastic waste and pollution. It represents one of the most powerful and concerted efforts working
  internationally to address this issue, bringing together public, private, and civil society leaders to translate commitments into concrete action.
• The goal of the Ghana NPAP is to dramatically reduce the country’s plastic waste and pollution, and to fast-track progress towards zero leakage of waste into the
  environment, especially the ocean. The Ghana NPAP will support the government and businesses in transitioning to a circular economy for plastics, which will fundamentally change the way plastics are manufactured, used, and re-used.
• The transition to a circular plastics economy will spur job creation in the manufacturing and innovation industries, promote public health and wellbeing, boost tourism and investment, and support Ghana’s progress towards achieving a number of the Sustainable Development Goals.

About the Ghana National Plastics Management Policy

• Ghana’s first National Plastics Management Policy aims to use the comprehensive management of plastics across their life-cycle and value-chain as a vehicle for
  sustainable development, enabling a shift towards a plastics circular economy.
• The Policy lays a foundation to enable the creation of entirely new industry for redesigning, recovering and recycling plastics, preventing pollution of our environment
  and communities and creating many new jobs in the green economy.
• The Implementation Plan of the National Plastics Management Policy starts with a national communication strategy to change our behaviour on how we manage plastics.
  The next focus will be on mobilizing finances and innovation to enable new business models for sustainably managing plastics and supporting communities and companies to coordinate and plan for a circular plastics economy. Lastly, the implementation of the Policy establishes robust frameworks for good governance and shared accountability across society.
• The Ghana National Plastics Action Partnership will be supporting the Government of Ghana to implement its ambitious roadmap for a circular plastics economy, captured in the National Plastics Management Policy.
• About the UNDP ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform
• The ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform represents one of the newest and most innovative initiatives in UNDP’s long history of notable work in Ghana.
• This initiative will create a real-time and digital one-stop shop solutions platform to connect stakeholders across the waste management chain with access to open data and innovative technology solutions to promote waste recovery.
• The Platform convenes stakeholders for dialogue and exchange through a highly inclusive approach. It has brought together more than 250 stakeholders in the waste management value chain, both from traditional and non-traditional backgrounds to inform its design.
• The Platform through its ‘Waste’ Recovery Innovation Challenge (WRIC) will also have a special focus on highlighting and supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in Ghana’s waste management sector. Through facilitating the sharing of practical knowledge and new research, the platform will play a key role in scaling up local successes to the national level.
• The work of UNDP and the Ghana NPAP will intersect and feed into each other in a high constructive and collaborative manner. Together, the two initiatives will help strengthen Ghana’s sustainable waste management infrastructure, reduce plastic waste and pollution, and ultimately eliminate plastic leakage in the near future.