Abstract

Ghana is one of a few African countries that have implemented a plastics excise tax for plastic litter control and prevention, and for revenue purposes. However, the impact of the Ghanaian plastics excise tax on plastic litter has not been assessed. The aim of this study, therefore, is to assess the impact of the plastics excise tax on plastics litter in Ghana using the goal attainment criterion. A qualitative research methodology was adopted: semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders using the purposive sampling technique. Excel was employed along with descriptive statistics. The study showed that the tax has, to some extent, helped to encourage recycling to create a market for plastic waste, which has reduced the plastic litter, but not to zero. The study also showed that the tax has helped to increase public awareness of the tax, but has failed to reduce the production and consumption of plastics as there is an increased demand for and consumption of plastics in Ghana. However, the tax has been successful in promoting international plastic waste technology transfers in Ghana: the number of recycling entities increased from two in 2008 to 30 in 2022, in a drastic reduction in plastic litter. Against this backdrop, the authors make the following recommendations to improve the plastics excise tax policy: (1) Introduction of direct and variable tax rates based on plastic types and weight at the household level to improve the incentive effect; (2) Government should enact legislation to make it mandatory for plastic manufacturers to recycle their plastic trash; (3) Government should provide subsidies for the production of plastic substitutes, such as paper bags, cloth carrying bags, jute bags, leather bags and shopping cane baskets, to make them attractive to consumers and reduce the demand for plastic bags; and (4) Tax rates should be adjusted to account for inflation.