NCCE Promotes Recycling Habit Among Ghanaian Students

By Claude Nyarko Adams And Jessica Agyapongmaa Gyapong

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is advocating the inculcation of recycling habits amongst Ghanaian students.

Reiterating the benefits of recycling, Chairperson of NCCE, Madam Josephine Nkrumah, said the activity was an avenue for employment and revenue creation in the country as was the case in other countries.

"A lot of people are making money out of those plastics simply by collecting and recycling them. It can be a valuable and profitable if we set out to engage in it. But, we cannot participate if we do not cultivate the habit of recycling right from our younger years, we will struggle to appreciate its importance," she said.

Madam Nkrumah was addressing students of Alsyd Academy, a private nursery and junior high school (JHS) in Accra yesterday, as part of the Commission's Citizenship Week on environment.

She advised the students to drop their waste into only designated dustbins as it would help waste collectors in the sorting-out stage of waste collection for recycling.

Ghana, Madam Nkrumah said was currently faced with pollution challenges in water bodies, resulting in the extinction of some sea and water body creatures.

"The plastics and other waste we dump in our water bodies do not just vanish. The sea creatures assume it is food and they swallow them. What happens then after is it makes them uncomfortable and they die. If some do not survive these conditions and all of them die, those fishes and creatures are never seen again. The consequences are that our fishermen are unable to make the necessary catch to feed the whole population," she stated.

Another problem was the increasing cost incurred by the Ghana Water Company Limited in purifying water from various sources for domestic use, the NCCE chairperson noted.

Madam Nkrumah urged the students to join in sensitising their parents and the public to the need to keep their surroundings and water bodies free of pollutants, by reducing waste by recycling.

The students pledged to protect the environment, by practising sound waste management, and educating others on the need to keep the environment clean.

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