Plastic manufacturers reject levy

Members of the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association (GMPA) have rejected an ¢11,000 government levy on imports, saying it will kill the plastic manufacturing industry in the country.

They have subsequently made counter proposals of a sanitation levy of 0.1 per cent at the point of entry on all plastic imports, and a surcharge of 0.75 per cent on film at the point of first sale.

This they say, will generate at least ¢1.25 billion per month for the surcharge, which could be used to manage waste and educate people nationwide on plastic waste disposal.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the president of the GPMA, Mr Ebbo Botwe, said the minister for tourism and modernisation of the capital city (MOTMCC), Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, in February this year, invited the executive council of the GPMA and proposed the levy of ¢11,000 per kilo of plastic raw material to get rid of plastic waste in the capital.

The estimation of the minister was that 70 tonnes of waste were generated in Accra daily, and that if the price of sachet water were increased from ¢250 to ¢300, it would not have any impact on the consumer while generating some funds for the clean up exercise.

He said statistics at the Waste Management Department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and other waste management agencies showed that about 9,000 tonnes of waste, constituting 3.5 per cent, while 100 tonnes of this were light plastic which constituted just 1.1 per cent.

Mr Botwe said the minister's proposal if implemented, was likely to burden Ghanaians who were already faced with high cost of living and the cascading effects of the recent petroleum price increases, and cause loss of employment, revenue and a collapse of the plastic manufacturing industry.

The levy, he said, constituted almost 100 per cent tax on raw materials, which were at their peak price currently.