This is a typical roadside in Zanzibar – check it out. NO PLASTIC BAGS!! NO BLACK POLY BAGS!! NO WATER SACHET BAGS!!! Amazing to see, especially for someone like myself who lives in Ghana, where plastic bags have become part of the local scenery, and where government officials and business people and consumers have collectively chosen to look the other way and completely ignore the damage that continues to be done to our environment.
Have another look, a little closer this time….
So, you may ask – how did the folks in Zanzibar manage to do this? Well, it really wasn’t all that difficult. The government passed legislation making it illegal for shopkeepers to give out plastic bags and they also made it illegal to sell water in sachet bags. The citizens responded by using woven baskets and cloth bags and jute sacks and re-useable wooden crates when they are doing their shopping. The government made potable water available for the people. Voila!! Clean roadsides, unclogged gutters, no plastic bags floating in the rivers, streams and ocean – absolutely a pleasure to walk the streets in village and city, and drive along the roads and highways! Congratulations, Zanzibar!! And Ghana?? well, you can see that the example has been set – let us see if we have the collective will to follow it. Happy Earth Day!
Village Rainbows 
April 23, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Surprising what can be accomplished if there is the political will! We just had a guest who had been at Wii Falls in the Volta Region. Black poly bags and water sachets ringed the pool at the bottom
April 24, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Nana, do you remember when the USA began it’s “Don’t Litter – Keep America beautiful” campaign back in the 60’s? The main thrust of this was in the public school system. Children were taught to shame their own parents whenever they caught them tossing something out the car window. It took a few decades, but the strategy worked. In Ghana, I think the only way to stop the littering is to create a new consciousness along similar lines. It starts with the children who can grow up to become responsible adults who dispose of litter in the proper way. simply outlawing plastic bags is not going to do the trick.