ACCRA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Plastic pollution along the beaches of Ghana is a huge threat to the survival of sea turtles, Conservationist Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi told Xinhua Tuesday.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the World Environment Day, Owusu-Gyamfi who is manager for research and conservation science at the Ghana Wildlife Society said the plastic menace along the beaches had become widespread and worrying.
"What we noticed was that the beaches were laden with all kinds of plastics: the lightweight and heavyweight plastics, bottles and any plastic you can imagine," she said.
Where the plastic overtook the beaches, Owusu-Gyamfi said the turtles that come on the shore have difficulty finding suitable nesting grounds. They have to dig through the rubble and lay eggs that they then cover with the plastics, instead of sand.
"And this is a potential recipe for disaster for wildlife and for the turtle as well. So we just decided to expose this to the general public that we need to cut back on the number of plastics we use," Owusu-Gyamfi said.
"Let's be eco-friendly in whatever we do; let's pledge to reduce plastics, refuse plastics recycle plastics and re-use plastics," the conservationist said.
There have been calls for the Ghanaian government to ban plastic products in the country, but Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources Joseph Kofi Adda said the government was in a dilemma over that proposal.
The minister said the government has to balance employment creation and business development with all the harms that the country faced from plastics.
