2 Sunyani schools get litter bins

April 16 (page 21)
Story: Samuel Duodu, Sunyani
THE Brong Ahafo Regional Environmental Network Committee (RENC), the regional advisory committee on environment, has presented litter bins worth GH¢300 to two basic schools in the Sunyani Municipality at separate ceremonies in Sunyani.
The beneficiary schools were the Ridge Experimental ‘A’ School (north campus) and High Street Junior High School (JHS) at Penkwasi, a suburb of Sunyani. Each of the schools received two litter bins.
The committee which comprises representatives from the Brong Ahafo Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environmental Health Directorate and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) was set up to identify environmental problems in the region and make recommendations for their solution.
Presenting the items, the Chairman of RENC, Mr Nat Dzadey, who is also a Deputy Director at the RCC, said the donation was aimed at inculcating the habit of environmental sanitation in schoolchildren in the municipality.
Another objective of the donation, he said, was to promote environmental sanitation in public basic schools in the municipality and to create the awareness among schoolchildren on the need to keep their surroundings clean always.
Mr Dzadey stated that the litter bins were purchased through an appeal made to certain individuals and organisations in the municipality to help procure them for distribution to basic schools, lorry parks and markets to reduce indiscriminate disposal of refuse.
He thanked the sponsors and expressed the hope that others would support the RENC to ensure a clean and safe environment in the region.
Mr Dzadey urged the schoolchildren to desist from littering the environment, especially with plastic waste that could not decompose easily. 
The Regional Director of the EPA, Mr Isaac Osei, who is a member of the committee, said schoolchildren were targeted for the programme because they were seen as agents of change in the society.
The Headmistress of Ridge Experimental, Mrs Rosemary Annor Sakyi, and Mr Emmanuel Boafo, the Headmaster of High Street JHS, expressed their gratitude to the committee.
He noted that the litter bins would go a long way to enhance sanitation in their schools.
They pledged to take good care of the bins and advised the schoolchildren to use them instead of littering the school compound.