A few minutes of convenience, years of pollution, and the physics that makes the 2027 prohibition a simple, necessary decision
Ghana is fighting several environmental battles at the same time. Illegal mining continues to pollute rivers, destroy farmlands and remove vegetation. Poorly planned settlements and construction on waterways have increased the country’s vulnerability to flooding. At the same time, inadequate waste collection has left plastic bags, bottles, sachets and takeaway containers scattered along streets, beaches, markets, gutters and water bodies.
These problems are closely connected. When vegetation is removed, rainwater flows more rapidly over exposed land. When buildings occupy waterways, floodwater loses its natural pathways. When gutters become filled with plastic waste, their capacity to carry stormwater decreases. Ghana’s environmental challenges are therefore not separate events; they form an interconnected system involving human behaviour, public policy and physical processes.
My understanding of this problem deepened when I participated in a workshop organised by the Environmental Protection Authority, Ignite Media and KNUSTFORD University College under the National Climate and Environmental Communication Initiative. The workshop focused on effective communication in plastic-waste management reporting and how journalists, researchers, communicators and other stakeholders can help close the information and public-awareness gap surrounding Ghana’s environmental challenges.
The sessions addressed different but related aspects of environmental communication and action. Dr Diana Afi Sebbie discussed the principles of environmental communication and public engagement. Dr Annie Owusua examined media reporting on plastic pollution and climate change. Dr Sarfo Yiadom explained climate change, its causes and impacts, as well as mitigation and adaptation measures. Dr Godfred K. Teye discussed the plastic life cycle and its environmental consequences, while Mr. Nathaniel Laryea focused on practical solutions, community action and multimedia storytelling.
One important lesson from the workshop was that environmental communication should do more than report that a problem exists. It should help people understand how the problem develops, who is affected, what scientific processes are involved and what practical actions can be taken. Effective reporting must therefore connect policy with evidence and translate scientific ideas into language that ordinary people can understand.
After the classroom sessions, we visited the Jamestown Beach near the Gbetse Mantse Palace to observe the effects of plastic pollution for ourselves. What I saw transformed an issue that had previously seemed largely theoretical into an immediate national concern. The beach was heavily affected by plastic waste of different forms and sizes. Disposable packaging, bottles, sachets and broken plastic materials had become mixed with the sand and other waste along the shoreline.
Standing there, I realised the true gravity of Ghana’s plastic-waste problem. It was no longer possible to view it merely as the result of one careless individual dropping a plastic item. The amount and spread of the waste pointed to a much wider failure involving consumption, product design, waste collection, public behaviour, regulation and environmental enforcement. Although individuals must dispose of waste responsibly, the scale of the problem requires national attention and coordinated institutional action.
Physics helps us understand how waste discarded in one community can eventually accumulate along a beach such as Jamestown. Plastic waste does not necessarily remain where it is thrown. Gravity moves it from higher to lower ground. Rainwater carries it through gutters and streams. Wind exerts a force on lightweight plastics, while rivers and drainage systems transport them towards the sea. At the coast, waves, tides and currents redistribute the waste, sometimes returning it to the shoreline.
Thus, what appears at Jamestown Beach may have originated several kilometres away. The shoreline becomes the final receiving point of a much larger urban system.
The beach as evidence of the conservation of mass
The scene at Jamestown Beach demonstrated one of the most fundamental principles in physics: the law of conservation of mass. Matter does not simply disappear after it is discarded. It changes form, moves from one location to another or accumulates within the environment.
For a waste system, this principle can be expressed as:
If plastic enters Ghana’s economy but is not collected, recycled or properly disposed of, it must end up somewhere. It may accumulate in a dumpsite, remain in a gutter, enter a water body, wash onto a beach or be burned and converted into gases, smoke and ash.
This principle challenges the common idea that waste has been “disposed of” simply because it is no longer visible to the person who used it. Throwing a takeaway container into a gutter only transfers the problem to another location. Burning it transfers part of the pollution into the atmosphere. Breaking it into smaller pieces makes it less visible, but the plastic remains in the environment.
The waste observed at Jamestown Beach was therefore evidence of material that Ghana’s production, consumption and waste-management systems had failed to recover.
Why lightweight plastics travel so far
Expanded polystyrene, commonly called Styrofoam, is especially mobile because of its physical structure. It consists of a thin plastic framework containing a large volume of trapped gas. This gives it a very low average density.
Its behaviour in water can be explained using Archimedes’ principle, which states that an object immersed in a fluid experiences an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces:
where Fb is the buoyant force, is the density of water, g is gravitational acceleration and V is the volume of displaced water.
Because the average density of expanded polystyrene is much lower than that of water, it floats easily. A discarded takeaway pack can therefore be carried by rainwater from a roadside into a gutter, transported into a stream and eventually discharged into the sea.
Wind also moves polystyrene easily because it has a large surface area relative to its mass. The force of moving air may be sufficient to lift or push it from an overflowing bin, vehicle or dumpsite. At the coast, waves and currents continue transporting and redistributing the material.
This movement can be understood through Newton’s second law:
Because Styrofoam has a very small mass, even a relatively small force from wind or flowing water can produce noticeable acceleration. Its low density and small mass consequently make it more likely to escape from waste-collection points than heavier materials.
From large containers to microplastics
The waste on the beach also showed how plastic pollution changes over time. Sunlight contains ultraviolet radiation with enough energy to weaken chemical bonds in plastic. Daily heating and cooling cause expansion and contraction, while waves repeatedly strike plastics against sand, stones and other objects.
These processes cause larger plastics to become brittle and break into smaller fragments. The process is known as fragmentation. Importantly, fragmentation is not the same as biodegradation. The plastic has not vanished or returned harmlessly to nature. Its particle size has simply decreased.
As fragments become smaller, their surface-area-to-volume ratio increases:
where A is surface area, V is volume and r represents particle size. As r decreases, the surface area relative to volume increases. This allows smaller plastic particles to interact more extensively with water, sediments and living organisms.
The smallest fragments can become microplastics, which are difficult to see and almost impossible to remove completely from an open marine environment. They can be ingested by fish and other organisms, allowing plastic pollution to enter food webs. This explains why removing visible waste from a beach, although necessary, does not entirely reverse the environmental damage.
Communication is part of the solution
The workshop made it clear that environmental communication is not separate from environmental management. It is part of the solution. Scientific knowledge has limited impact if it remains confined to technical reports, laboratories and conferences. It must be communicated in ways that help the public recognise the connection between daily choices and larger environmental outcomes.
A report on plastic pollution should therefore go beyond showing photographs of a dirty beach. It should explain how the waste arrived there, why certain materials float, how sunlight and waves fragment plastics, how blocked drains worsen flooding, and why burning waste contributes to air pollution and climate change.
Effective communication must also avoid presenting plastic pollution solely as the moral failure of consumers. Telling people to “stop littering” is important, but insufficient. Producers determine the materials placed on the market. Businesses decide how products are packaged. Local authorities manage waste collection. Regulators establish and enforce standards. Consumers make disposal decisions within the infrastructure available to them.
The communication must therefore encourage individual responsibility while demanding institutional and producer accountability.
Ghana’s plastic-waste burden
The experience at Jamestown Beach reflects a wider national problem. According to the United Nations Development Programme, Ghana generates approximately 840,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, but only about 9.5 per cent is collected for recycling (UNDP Ghana, 2025). This means that a substantial quantity is dumped, burned, buried or allowed to escape into the environment.
The 2021 Population and Housing Census also found that only 33.4 per cent of Ghanaian households had their solid waste collected. Among households whose waste was not collected, burning was the most common disposal method, accounting for 77.5 per cent of disposal. The figure was 88 per cent among affected urban households and 66.8 per cent among affected rural households (Ghana Statistical Service, 2021).
These figures reveal why Ghana must combine public education with waste prevention. Where collection coverage is limited, continually introducing more disposable products into the economy places additional pressure on households, communities and local authorities.
Why the 2027 Styrofoam ban matters
Against this background, Ghana’s decision to ban expanded polystyrene foam products from 1 January 2027 is timely. The Environmental Protection Authority announced in May 2026 that the prohibition would cover the production, importation, distribution, sale and use of EPS products, subject to specified exemptions.
The ban will not solve Ghana’s entire plastic-waste problem. Styrofoam represents only one part of the plastic waste found in drains and on beaches. However, it is a reasonable starting point because it is widely used, easily scattered, difficult to collect economically and commonly discarded after a single use.
Its removal can be understood through the principle of source reduction. Instead of waiting for waste to spread through the environment and then spending money to collect it, source reduction prevents the material from entering the waste stream.
This approach is comparable to closing a tap before mopping a flooded room. Beach clean-ups and drain-clearing exercises remain necessary, but they cannot succeed permanently if the flow of disposable waste continues unchanged.
Styrofoam, drainage and flooding
During rainfall, the quantity of water passing through a drain per unit time may be expressed as:
where Q is the discharge, A is the available cross-sectional area and v is the average flow velocity.
When plastic waste occupies part of the drain, the area available for water decreases. Tangled waste also increases resistance and turbulence. The drain consequently carries less stormwater effectively. If water enters faster than it can be discharged, it accumulates and eventually overflows.
The hydraulic effect can also be described using Manning’s equation:
where n represents roughness, R is the hydraulic radius and S is the slope. Waste increases effective roughness and reduces both the open area and hydraulic radius, lowering the drain’s carrying capacity.
Flooding in Ghana has several causes, including intense rainfall, inadequate drains, construction on waterways and poor planning. It would therefore be incorrect to blame Styrofoam alone. However, removing a lightweight material that contributes to drainage blockage will reduce pressure on an already inadequate system. The World Bank has similarly identified plastic waste as a material that clogs Ghana’s open drains (World Bank, 2020).
The climate-change connection
The climate effect of Styrofoam begins before it becomes waste. Polystyrene is produced primarily from petroleum and natural gas. Energy is required to extract and refine these resources, manufacture styrene, polymerise it and expand the material into foam.
Where this energy comes from fossil fuels, greenhouse gases are released. The underlying physics is Earth’s radiative energy balance. The planet receives mainly short-wave radiation from the Sun and emits energy as long-wave infrared radiation.
A simplified representation of the balance is:
where S is incoming solar radiation, α is Earth’s reflectivity, σ is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and T is effective temperature.
Greenhouse gases absorb part of the outgoing infrared radiation and re-emit energy in different directions, including back towards Earth’s surface. As their atmospheric concentration increases, the rate at which heat escapes directly into space decreases. The surface and lower atmosphere then warm until a new energy balance is established.
Zheng and Suh (2019) estimated that conventional plastics generated approximately 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions in 2015 across their life cycles. Under a business-as-usual scenario, these emissions could reach about 6.5 billion tonnes by 2050.
Ghana’s ban will not significantly alter global temperature on its own. Its contribution lies in joining broader efforts to reduce unnecessary fossil-based production, promote reuse and change patterns of consumption.
Open burning moves the pollution into the air
Another relevant principle is combustion. When polystyrene is burned, its carbon does not disappear. Under ideal conditions, a hydrocarbon combusts according to the general relationship:
Open waste fires rarely provide the controlled temperature and oxygen supply required for complete combustion. They consequently produce smoke, soot, carbon monoxide and other pollutants.
Black-carbon particles in soot absorb solar radiation and convert it into heat. Burning plastic therefore transfers the pollution from the land into the atmosphere while exposing nearby residents to unhealthy air.
Given the prevalence of burning as a method of disposing of uncollected waste in Ghana, reducing the amount of Styrofoam entering communities can also reduce the quantity available for open burning.
Making the ban work
Supporting the ban does not mean ignoring its possible effects on businesses and consumers. Street food vendors, restaurants, manufacturers and distributors need affordable alternatives. The government must use the transition period to explain the law clearly, support local innovation and ensure that Styrofoam is not replaced by another equally damaging disposable material.
Implementation should include:
clear definitions of prohibited and exempted products;
public education in local languages;
support for local producers of reusable and recyclable packaging;
engagement with food vendors and small businesses;
environmental and food-safety standards for alternatives;
enforcement at ports, factories and major distribution points;
consistent monitoring without political interference; and
periodic measurement of changes in litter, drainage waste and market prices.
Universities should conduct life-cycle assessments of proposed alternatives. A paper or plant-based package should not automatically be considered environmentally superior merely because it looks natural. Researchers must compare energy consumption, water use, transportation, durability, reusability and end-of-life disposal.
The best alternative is often not another disposable container but a durable product that can be safely reused many times.
From Jamestown Beach to national action
My visit to Jamestown Beach made one point unmistakably clear: Ghana’s plastic-waste crisis cannot be left to individuals alone. Citizens must change their behaviour, but behaviour change must be supported by reliable waste collection, responsible product design, clear regulation and consistent enforcement.
The waste on the beach represents a chain of decisions stretching from production and importation to consumption and final disposal. Solving the problem therefore requires another chain—one that connects government, producers, businesses, researchers, journalists, traditional authorities, community organisations and consumers.
The workshop organised by the EPA, Ignite Media and KNUSTFORD University College demonstrated why communication must be part of that chain. When environmental reporting combines human experience with credible data and understandable science, it can move the public conversation beyond blame. It can show people how the problem works and why a proposed intervention deserves support.
The physics is visible at Jamestown. Conservation of mass explains why discarded waste accumulates somewhere. Gravity and fluid motion carry it through drains. Archimedes’ principle explains why foam floats. Newton’s laws help explain why light materials are easily moved by wind and water. Ultraviolet radiation and mechanical forces fragment plastics. Drainage theory shows how solid waste reduces water-flow capacity, while atmospheric physics connects fossil-based plastic production and waste burning to climate change.
The Styrofoam ban will not clean Ghana’s rivers, redesign its cities or end flooding by itself. It should not distract the government from addressing illegal mining, inadequate drainage and poor waste collection. But it is an achievable preventive step against one highly mobile and persistent pollutant.
What I witnessed at Jamestown Beach showed that delay also has a cost. Every disposable container that escapes collection becomes part of a physical system governed by wind, water, gravity and waves. Once released, it becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to recover.
Ghana should therefore support the ban scheduled for 1 January 2027 and insist on fair, scientific and consistent implementation. The issue is no longer simply whether Styrofoam is convenient. The real question is whether a few minutes of convenience justify years of pollution.
The evidence on our beaches already provides the answer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Petras Anaab Ali (MPhil) also known as Sumaila Ali or Coach Ali (The Supreme Tactician), holds a BSc and MPhil in Physics from the University of Ghana, also reading a certificate program in Biblical Studies from Heritage Bible Institute. His academic interests lie at the intersection of cosmology, quantum theory, philosophy of science, and Christian theology, with a focus on exploring the origin, structure, and destiny of the universe.
He works with Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as a Programme Officer (P.O), contributing to environmental regulation and sustainability efforts. Beyond his scientific career, he is also a Sports Analyst, Sports Researcher, Sports Writer, and Sports Commentator with Radio Univers and Legon Today. Petras brings a balanced and insightful perspective to discussions on science and faith, communicating complex ideas with clarity for both academic and general audiences.
