$1.5m grant secured to reduce marine litter, plastic pollution in Accra
Some $1.5m grant has been secured to implement a framework aimed at reducing marine litter and plastic pollution in country’s capital, Accra.
The $1.5m grant was secured from PROBLUE, an umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund Partnership that supports integrated and sustainable economic development in healthy oceans.
Plastic pollution and marine litter, the World Bank notes, challenges its goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity in an equitable and sustainable way.
“Plastic pollution challenges the World Bank’s goals, not only by negatively impacting livelihoods like fisheries and tourism sectors, but also by putting public health at stake with flooding risks exacerbated by clogged drains.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a surge of single-use plastics that strains waste management efforts, further showcased the need to address the plastic issue. Supporting countries in addressing plastic waste is a step-forward in meeting our twin goals,” stated Dhruva Sahai, Acting Country Manager, World Bank Ghana, speaking at the Stakeholder Consultations on improving marine litter and pollution in the Greater Accra Region on Thursday, December 15, 2022.
The World Bank has other programs aimed at addressing plastic pollution in the Greater Accra Region.
This includes the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, a $200 million investment project aimed at reducing the amount of solid waste, including plastics, flowing into the Odaw River Basin through improved solid waste management and infrastructure.
More recently is another project in preparation under the West Africa Coastal Areas Program, known as WACA.
This project will involve targeted interventions to tackle plastics pollution.
Speaking further at the Stakeholder Consultation, Dhruva Sahai noted that, stakeholders by working together on financing, innovative technologies and policy reforms, will we see progress towards a Ghana that is free of plastic pollution.
Adding that, despite the significant progress made by Ghana, there is a need to for policy reforms to create market incentives to value plastics, including Extended producer responsibility.
There is also the need for greater capital investments from the private and public sector in physical infrastructure such as collection, transfer, sorting facilities and recycling facilities.
