Our Polluted Reality: When Will It End?
We’ve been thought about pollution in school, at home and even in our communities and we all know the negative effects of it. Yet, we still end up polluting our cities and communities. Today , our streets are full of refuse and our gutters are choked. Yet we still wonder why there’s flooding when it rains. I’ve been to other countries and throughout my time there, I never saw so much rubbish around. The worst you can see is some cigarettes on the floor or some sweets. But in my homeland, it’s a different story.
People carry heaps of refuse from their houses just to dump them along the streets and even behind the houses of others. How sad. But, this isn’t even what is killing us today. One thing that I believe is the major cause of pollution in Ghana is our mentality. We have preached and preached about keeping the country clean for decades now. The people started to blame the government for not putting measures in place to ensure the country was clean. The government then stepped in and provided dust bins at every corner of the country and even employed people to sweep the streets and markets every day and night. Yet, we the people still aren’t holding on to our end of the bargain.
You drink your sachet of water and instead of dumping it in the refuse can next to you, you decide to drop it on the floor. The next person also does the same and the cycle continues. Then, at the end of the day, the cleaners are not able to clear all the refuse because you choose to litter at your big age. Simply put, we don’t practice what we preach and we don’t want to be catalysts for the change we want to see.
To add to all the measure put in place by the government , more rules were being put in place to make sure citizens did the right thing. It even got to a time when people were being fined for littering yet here we are, back to square one. I’d say it’s gotten a bit better recently as the youth is starting to refrain from such acts. But until we all take the initiative to do the right thing I don’t know when the issue of pollution in Ghana will be a thing of the past.The country is suffering day and night due to the effects of our actions and until we take the initiative to do better, we will keep on struggling with the issue of pollution.Hopefully, it happens faster than we can imagine.
all images belong to me.
Posted Using INLEO
This is really disheartening. It's not just about government initiatives, but also about individual actions and accountability. And until everyone sees the need to make effort in reducing, reusing and recycling our wastes I doubt if there will be any significant change.
Thanks for sharing.
🤝
You’re right! We need to do better.
Thanks for passing by.
Very much welcome.
This is such a frustrating reality, and you’ve captured the issue so well. It’s not just about policies or government actions—it’s about a collective mindset shift. No amount of dustbins or fines will help if people don’t take personal responsibility. Hopefully, more awareness and action from the youth will lead to lasting improvements.
That’s true. We need to change our ways.
Nigeria and Ghana will always remain playmates when it comes to pollution. 😂. We blame the government for the pollution we caused by ourselves. When its raining season come and see people dumping wastes inside gutter so that the water will take it away. To where exactly?
And they forget that the gutter will be choked.😂 humans are just something else
I think the government has tried in this regard, whats left is for the people to have that change of mentality like you pointed out.
But until when will we change?
I doubt, let's watch and see
Awareness not to pollute the environment must start from oneself, family and society. It is not easy to create order.
That’s true. Charity begins at home.
Hey... waste management is a problem because disposal of waste is not taken care of. This method is tried in some select cities in India... segregate waste...
Kitchen waste is wet waste... the community or local area Government can collect this waste and put it for composting!
As far as possible single use plastics should not be used... like those slim polytene bags... carry your own bag when shopping kind...
Reuse other plastics!
Again collection of plastic waste can be arranged so they can be recycled.
Lastly, reject waste... those waste we general like medical waste, mentrunal pads, condoms, and such waste should be collected separately too. All this will be burned in incerinators.
This is basic waste disposal mechanism that Governments need to implement, and people have to segreagate waste properly.
Addtionally, for ladies, I done it late in life but I have stopped generating sanitary pad waste transitioning to using Menstrunal cups... here the cup can be sterlised and reused... silicon cup...
Addtionally, Governments can use plastic waste, like the use and thrown plastic mineral water bottles , burn it and make roads out of it.
This logic I knew some years ago, things should have improved.
All this plastic waste, that in landfills would end up in rivers, lakes, in cow stomach, in stomach of fishes and other creatures... and finally when we consume milk, or other products it will have plastic poison, not to mention those those creatures consuming plastic also die. Cancer comes...
I don't think this waste problem can be addressed by complaining or by some guys putting stuff in the dustbins... a system has to established for proper waste disposal and it has to involve you citizens too along with the local Government.
But we guys have no connect na... that system works by Citizens creating awareness in households for segragation and seeing Government made arrangements to collect it kind... it takes time, efforts and need community involvement...else won't work kind.
We can't do much, if our waste is not collect what do we do we thrown it on the road.
Lastly dog walkers, collect dogs poop and dispose it off, than allowing your pet to poop on road and footpath, disgusting attitude!
Your comment is upvoted by @topcomment
Info - Support - Discord
The issue of waste disposal is a big issue today.
Categorizing waste is also a way to manage waste disposal.