Environment, Science and Technology Minister-designate, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has backed the January 1, 2027 deadline for Ghana’s ban on the production, importation, distribution, sale and use of polystyrene foam products, popularly known as Styrofoam or takeaway packs.
Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on August 27, 2026 she said the environmental dangers associated with polystyrene could not be overlooked and that the deadline should be maintained.
She pointed to ongoing public education by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including a campaign in Kumasi, as part of preparations for implementation.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings also linked the country’s reliance on disposable packaging to changing consumer behaviour, recalling when people carried their own containers to buy food.
She acknowledged that behaviour change takes time but said it could be encouraged through incentives and penalties.
As a country, we have reached a point where the convenience of disposable plastic packaging can no longer be allowed to outweigh its environmental cost.
That is why Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings is right to insist that the January 1, 2027 deadline for the ban on polystyrene foam products must be maintained.
The government announced the phase-out as part of a wider effort to confront plastic pollution, while the EPA has set January 1, 2027 as the date for full enforcement.
The scale of our plastics problem makes inaction difficult to justify. The World Bank estimates that more than 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste are generated in Ghana every day.
Less than half is collected, while only about 9.5 per cent is recycled. Significant quantities are littered, dumped, burned or leaked into water bodies.
Against this backdrop, Styrofoam is a reasonable place to begin. These products are designed largely for minutes of convenience but can remain an environmental burden long after the meal is finished. Their widespread disposal in drains and open spaces is particularly troubling in a country already struggling with waste collection.
However, the Environment, Science and Technology Minister-designate herself touched on the central issue: enforcement.
A ban announced in Accra but weakly enforced elsewhere will achieve little. Authorities must be clear about who will enforce it, how businesses will be inspected, what penalties will apply and how compliance will be measured. Importantly, enforcement must cover imports as well as local production. Industry representatives have previously warned that restricting domestic production without controlling imports could undermine local manufacturers and the policy itself.
But government must also avoid pretending that replacing Styrofoam with another disposable product automatically solves the problem. UNEP recommends a life-cycle approach because alternatives can also carry environmental costs. Its research places particular emphasis on reducing single-use consumption and expanding reusable systems rather than simply replacing one throwaway material with another.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings’ recollection of carrying a personal container to buy food therefore deserves more than nostalgia. It points towards an important solution: making reuse normal again.
That requires investment. Food vendors need affordable alternatives. Consumers need convenient reusable options. Waste collectors and recyclers need stronger support. Producers should also bear greater responsibility for the waste associated with what they put into the market.
We already has a National Plastics Management Policy and is working towards an Extended Producer Responsibility framework. The next administration of this policy must ensure that these initiatives move from documents and consultations into measurable action.
The Styrofoam deadline should therefore stand. But government must understand that a ban is only the beginning.
The real test will be whether Ghana can enforce it fairly, support businesses through the transition, make reusable and genuinely sustainable alternatives accessible, strengthen waste collection and hold producers accountable.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings is right: behaviour change takes time. But government must create the conditions that make the right behaviour easier—and make continued pollution increasingly difficult and costly.
Ghana does not merely need another plastics announcement. It needs a plastics system that works.
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