Minister threatens to shut down toilet roll factory over poor waste management practices

The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng has threatened to shut down a toilet roll manufacturing company at Bawjiase in the Central Region due to its poor waste management practices.

The Minister, on a tour in the area discovered that the factory, which produces Bobo toilet rolls, has been dumping its waste into the Ayensu River.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the development, Professor Frimpong Boateng said he would task the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address the issue.

“Although the factory is offering employment to some Ghanaians it cannot compromise on the processes of disposing waste material,” Professor Frimpong Boateng said.



The Minister nonetheless commended the company for relying on local materials to produce the toilet rolls, but expressed discontent with the welfare of workers at the facility adding that the company must make welfare of workers a priority.

“Records of patients from Tamale Central hospital, Sunyani Regional hospital, receipts from the Ministry of Health, vouchers from the neonatal departments at the Municipal hospital in Sunyani have all been brought here to be turned into toilet roll,” he said.

“The boiler that generates steam at the factory must be changed and adopt the modern method of generating steam and the pit latrine toilet facilities is also dirty and it’s closer to the river. I am sure it’s been diverted somewhere into the river which we may not see unless we are able to ask questions and people answer them,” Professor Frimpong Boateng added.

Source: Graphic.com.gh