Ayi-Owen Students collecting littered water sachets. Techiman, Ghana, 2019. Photo by Alexis Jablonski.

The manifestation of the plastic crisis in Ghana is directly related to the ideologies and agendas associated with globalization. These structural changes, which sacrifice long-term sustainability, have resulted in the forced adaptation to a linear economy of single-use and indiscriminate disposal. Consequently, environmental and public health crises have emerged. However, citizens throughout the country, specifically in the city of Techiman, are looking within themselves to innovate and develop solutions on their own.

This article expands upon my high school capstone research on single-use plastic pollution in Ghana. Today, I actively reflect upon the internalized assumptions that brought me to Ghana and the systems of privilege that enabled me to do so. To read more about this process of reckoning with my identity, see the section ‘Learning and Unlearning’ at the bottom of my first installment.

In sharing this revised research, I am continually striving to bring a constructive lens to my work, one that demonstrates my growth as a global learner.

The Rise of Environmental Countermovements

Due to international development pressures, Ghana intended to address the public health crises of water-borne disease through plastic packaging of goods - specifically, the water sachet.

Without widespread recycling infrastructure, however, the overwhelming abundance of plastic litter has inflamed the latter health crisis.

The urban poor are disproportionately burdened by the emergent public health and environmental consequences of plastic pollution. In response to a global linear economy, Ghanaians are conceptualizing plastic management solutions within the informal sector to supplement the lack of government intervention.

Government Intervention and Societal Norms

During the onset of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 1990 to 2015, the access to improved drinking water increased from 76% to 91% on a global scale, surpassing the MDG target in 2010. However, this goal was largely achieved through the introduction of plastic packaging of water, further intensifying unsustainable consumption and disposal patterns.

The UN has since critiqued the environmental burden of the plastic industry and urged a transition to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which highlight environmental sustainability.

From a Western perspective, implementing a ban on single-use plastics is deemed a moral responsibility to the environment. Ironically, international stakeholders such as the UN have urged Ghana to ban plastics to tackle their generation of waste.

Similarly, 34 of the 54 African nations have passed laws banning plastics to varying degrees of intention and implementation.

However, the hesitation to ban plastic in Ghana is not out of disregard for the environment. It is a complex, internal struggle amongst citizens, the government, and international actors.

The Ghanaian Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, disclosed, “It is crystal clear that plastics pose a major environmental threat, but banning its use would have regrettable implications as Ghanaians heavily depend on it” in economic, public health, and cultural contexts.

The plastic manufacturers play a pivotal role in the economy. According to The Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association (GPMA), an outright ban on use of plastics can lead to the loss of about 5,276,770 jobs, representing 18.2% of the Ghanaian population.

Additionally, Ghana is locked within a position of dependence on international plastic imports. Specifically, 62% of thin, film plastic bags, which are not Oxo-Biodegradable, are imported from China.

Oxo-Biodegradable plastic contains a chemical additive which degrades into smaller micro plastic pieces. However, despite its name, Oxo-Bio does not biodegrade or compost in the natural world.

At the very least, the EPA in Ghana ensures that GPMA members conform to the production of the Oxo-Bio additive within plastic packaging, as it may aid the process of degradation.

However, the introduction of this additive has further stalled the innovation and production of fully compostable plastic alternatives.

Oxo-Bio is often urged as an alternative to regular plastics. However, the Ghanaian EPA was unable to require Chinese plastic imports to conform to this standard. Seemingly, the government is subordinate within this power relationship, as Ghana is a place of Chinese investment.

Due to this tumultuous relationship with international development corporations, the Ghanaian government maintains the linear production and consumption of plastic goods despite the environmental degradation.

Additionally, the government lacks the infrastructure to provide piped drinking water beyond the capital of Accra. Therefore, a ban on water sachets would severely restrict clean water access for a significant number of urban poor.

In less than one generation, Ghana went from using organic packaging that could be discarded and biodegrade in the environment, to plastic packaging that will take hundreds of years to biodegrade. Consequently, Ghanaian societal norms have not matched this adjustment in disposal patterns.

Photo 1: Goats grazing amongst plastic litter. Techiman, Ghana 2017. Photo by Alexis Jablonski.

However, the government has made strides to encourage environmental cleanliness. Each town has a Metropolitan Municipal District Assembly, which employs a task force to oversee various sectors of waste, including plastic litter. Therefore, most communities are under the misconception that you may throw any garbage where you stand, and let the MMDA deal with the consequences.

While in Ghana, I interviewed Abiba Owen, an employee of the Environmental Health Office in Techiman. She primarily works as a member of the environmental task force, whose job it is to encourage community cleanup and hold others accountable for their respective messes. She informed me, "There are by-laws within the communities which enable officers to take action against individuals regarding waste disposal".

However, there is a lack of enforcement among sanitation officers, which indicates that the government desires a hands-off approach. The government has placed the responsibility on citizens to encourage waste cleanup. According to Owen, sanitation officers find it difficult to reprimand community members due to the close relationships and social hierarchies throughout towns.

Additionally, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo created a program that encouraged local governments to send sanitary officers to clean up their cities on the last Saturday of each month. This program perpetuated the idea that it is solely the responsibility of the MMDA to clean, and not the duty of the general public. However, during his Sanitation Campaign Launch Speech in 2017, President Addo rescinded this program by recognizing that "We have an obligation to keep our environment clean, we have to do so daily, and not on a monthly basis".

Additionally, he called upon the entire community to inculcate a habit of greater discipline in the care of their surroundings.

Consequently, it is now the responsibility of the people to clean up the mess that the government and international corporations have forced them into.

Currently, there is a need for innovation to reuse the current material to reduce the impact of waste until recycling habits become normalized throughout the entirety of the country.

Rise in Innovation

It will be immensely difficult to shift the defining societal structure of disposal that globalization has created. The solution for the plastic pollution crisis does not lie solely within state intervention, as it was through that medium that the privatization of water and waste management came about.

Instead, the plastic crisis can be addressed immediately through education and innovation campaigns, incentives, and heightened visibility of grassroots movements.

The Informal Sector of Waste Picking

Due to growing economic displacement, some Ghanaian citizens engage in the informal sector of waste picking. The informal waste collector’s involvement in recycling is a direct response to the socio-political inefficiency of government intervention. Waste pickers play a vital role in the value chain of reprocessing waste, yet they are often overlooked by the private sector, such as the GMPA.

In global south countries, it is estimated that 20-30% of recycling is achieved by way of informal recycling systems, reducing collection and disposal costs. In conjunction, Ghanaians have created innovative and independent solutions to the plastic crisis.

There are immense job opportunities in the development of alternative materials that can replace single-use plastics, as well as innovations to support the reuse of material. Many countries in Africa have already championed innovative, low-cost recycling projects that could minimize plastic waste.

One possible method to encourage the use of recycling bins would be for the MMDAs to provide local waste collection containers at vantage areas that make it easy for the rural populace to access.

Increased accessibility to recycled material allows Ghanaians the opportunity to separate and organize raw material and used goods for resale.

Ghanaian Innovators

For instance, a young entrepreneur in Ghana has found a way to create pavement blocks from reused plastic. Nelson Boateng, the CEO of Nelplast Ghana limited, began molding the pavement blocks of 70% sand and 30% plastic in 2015.

According to Boeteng, plastic pavement blocks are 30% cheaper than cement blocks, and they do not break, fade, or grow algae. A square meter of his plastic pavers cost GHC 33 ($6.90) while the concrete blocks cost GHC 98 ($20.20).

These innovative solutions create jobs in manufacturing and sourcing materials while encouraging sustainability. Additionally, Boateng represents one of the few recycling facilities in Accra that is owned and operated by Ghanaians, not international investors such as China.

Waste picking offers a legitimizing solution by efficiently collecting post-consumer plastic and selling it for a profit to buyers in the industrial sector, such as Boateng.

Of the 500 waste pickers who sell plastics to Boateng, 60% are women who depend on plastic waste for their livelihood.

Additionally, Paul Coffie, a former recycling center employee, left his job in the private sector to pursue a sustainable solution. He established his own business, Toa House (“Bottle House”' in Asanti Twi) where he constructs houses out of plastic bottles filled with clay and sand.

Similar to Boateng, Coffie asserts that his building material is stronger, and costs 33% less than the average brick or cement block home.

Coffie’s business employs approximately 100 people within the value chain, including bottle collectors, sand fillers, and construction workers.

These leaders in innovation aspire to shift the mindset of industry and encourage Ghanaians to view waste as an economic opportunity. They have found a way to situate themselves within the supply chain of plastics and dictate the market worth of waste.

Ayi-Owen International School

When I arrived at the Ayi-Owen School in 2019, I understood that education campaigns within the informal sector would define my solution. I was driven to work with the students to encourage environmentalism and recycling plastic waste in a localized context. Additionally, I met with two local chiefs and environmental dignitaries to discuss possible solutions.

After collaborating with the upper school students and teachers, I decided to facilitate a clean up of water sachets on the school campus. I split the 6th grade class into 10 teams of a few students. They raced into the field to compete to collect the most sachets.

Photo 2: Ayi-Owen Students collecting littered water sachets. Techiman, Ghana 2019. Photo by. Alexis Jablonski.

The result was a staggering pile of hundreds of water sachets. Over the next week, the students and volunteers washed, cut, and weaved the sachets into a soccer net for their school.

Photo 3: Students washing sachets. Techiman, Ghana 2019. Photo by Alexis Jablonski.

Photo 4: Students weaving the soccer net. Techiman, Ghana 2019. Photo by Alexis Jablonski.

Photo 5: The Ayi-Owen students and the finished net. Techiman, Ghana 2019. Photo by Natalie Cartwright.

The school community began to recognize the value of recycled goods, and the teachers discussed ways in which the students could continue to weave sachet nets and sell them to the local community. This is similar to other informal sector campaigns, where Ghanaians leverage the abundance of plastic waste for financial stability. Months after I left, the Ayi-Owen students made an additional volleyball and tennis net for their campus.

Looking Forward

When the soccer net project worked in such a short period of time, I became aware of how, when students are organized and working toward a common goal, they can create an immense change.

While in Ghana, my passion and initiative didn’t go unnoticed. The school board wanted to help me scale up my project and create a global youth-led initiative centered in Techiman.

I was invited to join the board of For One World, the nonprofit that supports the Ayi-Owen school. FOW works to be a sustainable nonprofit that garners support from the local community of Techiman. They provide high quality, need-based education, outside of the neocolonial, British-Ghanaian framework, with minimal charity donations.

However, after I left Ghana, the excitement of a global-plastic initiative faded. I was transitioning to St. Lawrence University, and I felt extremely distant from the soccer net project, both spatially and morally. I began to fear for the sustainability of the plastic soccer net long-term.

Unfortunately, the net came down after two years of immense play.

The pilot design was a testament to the overwhelming recycling possibilities hidden within the informal waste sector. However, the net couldn’t withstand the heat, and it only served as a short-term symbol of progress. Unfortunately, the plastic sachets remain littered waste, but in the form of a soccer net.

After two years of pursuing a Global Studies major, I knew I wanted to revisit this project, but I felt the need to de-center myself from the solution. I reconnected with the board of For One World in order to develop a long-term solution within the community that focuses on environmental education.

As a board member, I am head of the Plastic Initiative: Youth Empowered Solutions. We strive to fund like-minded students’ solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.

Over the past few months, the Ayi-Owen students initiated their campus environmental club. Thus far, the students innovated recycled goods such as handbags and phone chargers from littered material.

They also visited the Tano River in Techiman to learn how the conditions of the river have changed due to plastic pollution. They are creating an informational video for the community to encourage solutions. Additionally, the club plans to meet with the local chief to discuss the protection of the river.

Photo 6: The current state of the Tano River, Techiman, Ghana 2021. Photo by Justice, of the Environmental Club.

Most recently, the students planted Acacia trees on campus. They have documented each part of the learning process, as the technological aspect of environmental education drives their aspiration to innovate.

Photo 7: The Ayi-Owen students with their Acacia seedlings. Techiman, Ghana 2021. Photo by Justice, of the Environmental Club.

For One World and Ayi-Owen are currently building an international extension to the environmental club, a virtual space where Ayi-Owen students can share their insights with U.S-based students. Additionally, Ayi-Owen students are absorbing a new environmental curriculum which will enable them to coach U.S based students to lower their carbon footprint by mirroring the lifestyle of a Ghanaian student. Through this exchange we hope to create a reflexive dialogue that encourages all students to understand their individual contribution to environmental degradation and climate change.

Environmentalism as Global Project

It is imperative to note that plastic pollution is not exclusive to Ghana, nor the global south. In the United States, our waste management is made invisible to the average consumer. Of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced globally, 6.3 billion metric tons have become plastic waste.

Of that, only 9% has been recycled.

From a Western standpoint, we tend to critique the waste management practices of Ghana because they are visibly inadequate. However, Western countries are generally more wasteful and starkly unaware of the lifecycle of their plastic waste. Ghanaian people contribute less to climate change than the lifestyle of those in the Global North. They have adapted to these consequences of globalization by practicing resourcefulness and innovation.

The solution for the plastic litter crisis will require infrastructure and action from the federal government. However, if the MMDA focuses on the informal sector of plastic collecting and recycling, they can promote greater awareness, and incentivize community members to work toward solutions.

Additionally, on February 14th, 2019, Techiman was named the capital of the new Bono East Region. This new era may yield significant progress for an otherwise under-served region. The Rotary International Club in Techiman has declared the environment as a target area for club activities. The Ayi-Owen International Environmental Club aims to partner with them to create local action.

In the immediate future, Techiman can take the initiative to inform the public to incite social change, acknowledge the environmental detriment, and recognize the economic opportunity that lies before them.

Globalization regarding the plastic industry in Ghana has created immense environmental damage. However, it is worth noting that these same negative aspects have forced engaged citizens to seek change and create innovative solutions. Techiman is now faced with a great platform to seek out economic development and environmental sustainability, despite the governmental system that neglects to make a change.

Learning and Unlearning

In February of 2017, I traveled to Techiman, Ghana on a service trip to the Ayi-Owen International School. As a sophomore in high school I was eager to gain meaningful experiences through teaching and learning abroad. But, I also felt a deep apprehension toward an experience that would challenge my identity, and show me for the first time what it meant to be an outsider.

My positionality as a middle-class, white woman living in the United States allows me immense socio-economic mobility. I grew up in a tiny town in Northeast Vermont, cluttered with the voices of other white people. In high school, I presumed Western aid organizations acted with altruism, and I too aspired to transform the world for the better.

I was acutely aware of the privileged space in which I exist, but I wasn’t yet equipped with the language to critique it.

I subconsciously consumed ideas that African countries were in need of aid, and Western societies possessed the most effective tools to facilitate development. Therefore, my whiteness and my citizenship of the U.S symbolized an urgency to contribute my time and skills to others.

I was praised enthusiastically by my peers and teachers for my initiative to serve those deemed less fortunate. I felt validated; purposeful even. I simply thought that Ghanaians were people in need of resources, and I was in a position to help.

While in Ghana I was struck by the environmental crisis of plastic pollution. The overlay of an incredibly grateful, communal atmosphere combined with the upset of plastic litter offers quite the juxtaposition.

For my senior capstone, I spent a semester researching the intricacies of the plastic industry and waste management in Ghana. In February 2019, I attended the same service trip through my high school, where I worked with the community in Techiman to investigate the social, environmental, and economic implications of plastic waste.

Those in the Global South are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. I viewed single-use plastics as an environmental problem, and I placed myself at the center of the solution.

Only this time, I felt a growing moral contradiction. I began to question whether my social philanthropy was predicated on racist depictions of young Ghanaians as lesser than me.

Was I using Western societies’ perception of African people as inferior to seek personal validation?

I knew deep down my desire to return to Ghana was grounded in environmentalism and service work. Yet, I neglected to understand how my capstone research perpetuated notions of Western academic superiority, while I lacked an insider understanding of the long-term needs of the community.

I felt the unspoken power dynamic of white saviorism, and yet, it didn’t prevent me from serving. I felt an overwhelming sense of white guilt, and individual agency. I believed I had a responsibility to undo these colonial power structures that manifested modern globalization.

However, I did not realize my presence alone perpetuated the internalization of these exact structures. As time went on, the words of my high school mentors no longer left me feeling proud or accomplished.

The longer I sat with this feeling, the more I was drawn to pursue an education in Global Studies at St. Lawrence University.

In the past two years I have maintained my relationship with For One World and the Ayi-Owen school to develop sustainable, youth led solutions to the climate crisis. I have continued to research the infrastructure of the plastics industry, and I hope to amplify the grassroots response in Ghana to the plastic pollution.