Deconstructing the use and disposal of plastic bags in Tema community one township in Ghana: implications for policy discourse on plastic bags waste management
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Date
2015-04-16
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University of Ghana
Abstract
Population increase coupled with rapid urbanisation and industrialisation
in developing countries, come with the challenges of waste
creation and management. The proper disposal and management of
the different types of waste generated are indispensable to ensuring
the healthiness of human beings and sound environmental media.
This article investigates consumers' attitudes towards the use of
plastic bags, their level of awareness of the hazards posed by the
indiscriminate disposal of these plastic bags and the roles institutions play in their proper management in Tema Community One Township
in Ghana. Using an eclectic approach (quantitative and qualitative instruments) supported by the Innovation Diffusion Theory, with a
total sample size of one hundred (100) respondents (ninety-four (94)
consumers and six (6) institutions), the paper unravelled a web of
inter connectedness between plastic bags reuse and disposal practices
vis-a-vis various socio-demographic factors especially, gender,
education and occupations. The paper also unearthed the inadequacy
of available policy instrument that directs the proper management of
plastic bags waste, while technologies on recycling, reuse, reduction
and recovery still remain at exploratory stages. These have implications
on the environment especially, with the increasing population,
urbanisation and slum development. Lessons emerging from this
paper include the indispensability of composing a robust plastic bags
waste management policy, a revision of the old bye-laws and the utilisation of multiple environmental instruments including, moral
suasion and incentivasation in plastic bags waste management
Description
School of social sciences colloquium
Keywords
urbanisation, slum development, developing countries, eclectic approach