[ 2016-03-14 ]

Melcom to use oxo-biodegradable carrier bags
Melcom Ghana Limited, one of the largest retail
shops in the country, has begun the replacement of
all non-degradable carrier bags with
oxo-biodegradable ones.

According to the Director of Communications of the
company, Mr Godwin Avenorgbo, the move formed part
of an effort by the company to address
the current sanitation issues facing the country.


Oxo-biodegradable plastic, often referred to as
"degradable" plastic, contains additives to help
them degrade into smaller pieces
more quickly with the help of heat or light.

Such type of plastics take three to six months to
decompose fully.

That's much quicker than their synthetic
counterparts that take several hundred years.

Sanitary situation

At present, the use of plastics has become a
canker such that president John Dramani Mahama, in
July 2015, warned that Ghana might go the
'Rwanda way' by banning the use of plastics if
producers failed to properly manage plastic waste.


“It has become such a pernicious pollutant. If
producers of plastics don't do something about it,
then we may have to go the Rwanda way. In Rwanda,

plastics are banned nobody uses plastics and yet
they are surviving," he said.

The ban

Following this, the government in December 2015
gave plastic producers a six-month lifeline to
help fix the country’s poor sanitation
challenges or be slapped with a fresh ban on light
plastics.

The ban, which should have come into effect in
November 2015, was suspended following a petition
from the producers.

The producers say another government directive for
them to make all plastics bio-degradable makes the
ban on light plastics unnecessary.

But Environment Minister Mahama Ayariga said the
government was convinced that the two directives
would check the filth in cities across the
country.

Sponsor clean-up campaigns

Mr Avenorgbor who was speaking at a ceremony to
present some educational items to the Have
Technical Institute in the Volta Region and the
Holy Child School in the Central Region, said the
company would also sponsor clean-up campaigns to
keep the environment healthy and safe particularly
at “this time that the rains will start pouring
down and their flow impeded by rubber and
garbage-choked gutters".

He, therefore, urged customers and the general
public to embrace the new concept by the company
while ensuring that they kept their environment
clean at all times and adhered to the sanitation
laws.

Have Technical Institute received two gas burners
and two gas cylinders to enable the school
authorities to start their catering programme
without delay.

Holy Child School also received one each of Akai
rechargeable fan and optima two-face fan and two
Akai steam irons to support its upcoming staff
awards.
Mr Avenorgbor also mentioned that the company had
also attained its objective of operating the
largest warehouse in west Africa and “our Free
Zones Warehouse is fully operational.”

The Principal of Have Technical Institute, Mr
Leonard Ashun, lauded Melcom Ghana Limited for the
support and pledged to use the items for the
benefit of the students.

Source - Daily Graphic

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