Consumers across the country may soon face a reduction in the availability of essential commodities packaged in plastic, including bottled and sachet water.
This comes as the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association, representing local industry players, has issued a week ultimatum to the government to demand the immediate suspension of a newly imposed 5% excise tax on locally produced plastic products.
Over 30,000 workers in Ghana’s plastic manufacturing sector may face layoffs, and production plants could shut down if the Ministry of Finance proceeds with the planned implementation of a 5% tax on locally manufactured plastics.
That's according to the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association (GPMA).
Members of the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association are threatening to halt production for a week if its request for extensive consultation with the Ministry of Finance on the implementation of the five per cent excise tax is not met.
Mr Ebbo Botwe, the President of the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association has said a fund set up in 2011 for plastic waste management has accrued a total of GHC 724 million as March 2018, but the sector Minister thinks different.
The Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association (GPMA) has said an outright ban on use of plastics can lead to the loss of about 5,276,770 jobs, representing 18.2 per cent of the Ghanaian population.
Ghana Plastic Manufacturers’ Association was founded in 2004 by plastic manufacturers’ and supported by the Ministry of Trade & Industries.GPMA was the first to initiate commercial plastic waste recycling in Ghana in the year 2006. The most popular one in Ghana is the collection and sale of empty water sachet plastic waste business.
