18 July 2022

Economics student Rosemond Yeboah, from Sunyani, Ghana, recalls having a difficult time breathing as a teenager when she walked along the seafront at Sakumono beach, due to the incineration of plastic waste. Seeing plastic waste in her hometown and floating in local lakes and the ocean disgusted her and galvanized her into doing something about single-use plastics.

Her first step was to take part in the Tide Turners Challenge as a member of Junior Achievement Africa. She engaged in several beach clean-ups. One of them, in the town of Winneba, led her to write to local government officials with suggestions on how to better manage plastic waste. Her tenacity earned her the distinction of “Outstanding Participant” in the Tide Turner’s Challenge. Rosemond is also seeking to promote the use of reusable shopping bags and has spoken with managers at a mall in Accra to get them to reduce their use of plastic bags.

See all young plastic pollution change-makers from Africa and India

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