The Chief Executive Officer of Magvlyn Industries Limited, Mr. Magnus Nunoo, has stated that sachet water may not be the real cause of environmental pollution as is often perceived but poor attitude.

According to him, the filth associated with sachet water has more to do with human attitude and lack of infrastructure than the packaging material itself.

Addressing the media at the 30th Anniversary Cocktail Reception of Magvlyn Industries Limited held at the La Palm Beach Hotel in Accra, he said we are often told that sachet water is a menace to the environment. “With respect, I say that may be a perception, maybe not a reality,” he said.

Mr. Nunoo posed two hypothetical questions: “If sachet water were packaged in paper, would we not see paper filth all around us as we see with plastic sachets today? And if our sachet rubbers were made fully biodegradable, would we still see the same filth associated with indiscriminate littering?”

“If your answer to the first question is yes, as mine is, then the pollution we see today may not necessarily have anything to do with the packaging material itself, but everything to do with human attitude and the lack of physical infrastructure, education, and enforcement,” he argued.

He said effective waste management begins with the provision of waste bins, noting that international best practice requires waste bins to be spaced at a maximum of 50 meters apart on both sides of the road, which translates to up to 40 bins per kilometre.

He therefore recommended to government that the provision of waste bins per kilometre be made a mandatory requirement in national road infrastructure planning, just as it provides for drainage systems and street markings.

“For as long as there are no bins on our roads, our open drains will remain the alternative dustbins, and the provision of bins alone is not enough,” he stressed.

Report by Bernard K Dadzie, Greater Accra Region