News:
August 2, 2024
A Delocalized Joint Meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources; the Committee on Mines and Energy; and the Committee on Infrastructure of the ECOWAS Parliament has ended in Winneba, Ghana on Friday, August 3, 2024.
The five days meeting under the theme; “Plastic Waste Management: Challenges and Prospects in the Implementation of Community Activities” was aimed among other things to inform members and raise awareness on the strategies and mechanisms developed by ECOWAS for the environmentally sound management of plastic waste in the West African region.
The Joint Committees at the end of their deliberations proffer the following recommendations for consideration by plenary.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
For ECOWAS Member States
- Invite Member States to adopt provisions aimed at the effective implementation of Regulation C/REG.17/12/23 on the harmonization of the regulation of plastic products and the environmentally sound management of plastic waste in ECOWAS Member States;
- Encourages States to build the capacities of the populations and civil society organizations in the fight against plastic waste;
- Urges Member States to harmonize their regulations on the treatment and management of plastic waste;
- Calls on Member States to define a policy to raise awareness among populations on the dangers of plastic waste.
For the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of States and Government
- Urges the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of States and Government to instruct governments to create funds dedicated to the organization of a circular economy in the treatment of plastic waste.
For the ECOWAS Commission
- Request the ECOWAS Commission to set up a joint committee of the ECOWAS Parliament and the ECOWAS Commission to further explore the harmonization on the fight against plastic waste;
- Invites the ECOWAS Commission to contribute to building the capacities of national institutions or agencies responsible for environmental protection;
- On the issue of transferring plastic waste to Europe for processing, the joint Committee recommends setting up a special fund to finance new non-polluting technologies, including the entire value chain of the circular economy in plastic waste management.
For the ECOWAS Parliament
- Requests the ECOWAS Parliament to organize advocacy missions to Member States for the implementation of Regulation C/REG.17/12/23 on the harmonization of the regulation of plastic products and the environmentally sound management of plastic waste within ECOWAS Member States;
- Invites the ECOWAS Parliament to develop mechanisms for regular monitoring of the implementation of policies relating to the fight against plastic waste within the Community.
Some Notable Engagements by the Joint Committee
During the five days meeting, the joint committee as part of efforts to acquaint themselves with cycling of liquid and solid waste visited the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant at Adjen Kotoku in the Accra, a move that gave them insight about some best practices of sustainable waste management in Ghana.
The Accra Compost and Recycling Plant is a 600 metric tons per day capacity processing plant that takes care of most of the urban wastes, treat and process them into reusable end products like plastic pellets, recyclable products such as papers, metal scraps as well as such as organic manure.
The Committee also had the opportunity to engage and interact with stakeholders at a town hall meeting in Winneba where they shared experiences with the people and also advised the people on the need to adopt some best practices with regards to waste management particularly the culture of waste segregation.
Ghanamps.com