The Furniture and Wood Products Association of Ghana (FAWAG) has noted that the government's decision to ban the use of wooden desks in schools will not collapse the industry.

While speaking to Channel One on Friday, May 6, the Association’s Administrative Assistant, Christopher Dadzawa, indicated that the group has since switched to the use of metal and other materials in producing school furniture.

“Not at all—it won’t affect local furniture producers. Before this announcement, metal furniture was already in the system, and I can also say with all pride that 20 years or so in the past, my association introduced metal furniture to the government. We did a pilot programme about it some 20, 15 years ago,” Dadzawa stated.

The government on Thursday, June 5, announced its commitment to transition from wooden desks to plastic or metal desks at various levels of education across the country.

This is aimed at reducing deforestation nationwide and ensuring the preservation and protection of the country’s vegetation.

In a speech in commemoration of World Environment Day 2025 celebrations under the theme “Ending Plastic Pollution,” held at Kwabenya, Accra, yesterday, June 5, President John Dramani Mahama revealed his plans to issue a directive barring the usage of wood in making school desks.

The use of wood for school desks, which has been the norm in the Ghanaian education system for over a century, dating back to the colonial era when formal schooling was introduced, will now be replaced with plastic or metal.

“…it is my intention to issue a directive to stop the use of wood for furniture. We are soon going to pass a directive so school furniture will no longer be made of wood so that we can stop the cutting down of our trees. We would either use recycled plastics or metals for our furniture,” the president said.

He further added that “We can't be planting trees and cutting them down at the same time, and so to reduce the cutting of trees while we deal with plastics and felling of trees, let us not forget to deal with illegal small-scale mining.”

Not only will wooden desks be banned, but also the importation of Styrofoam plastic, a common plastic used for the production of takeaway food packages.

The President highlighted the plastic’s harmful effects and the danger it poses to the environment.

“One of the most pernicious polluters is Styrofoam plastic,” he said. “When you go to buy your food and they put it in that white plastic something… and then you finish eating, you just dump it. That is one of the biggest polluters. And so we’re going to ban the importation of Styrofoam plastics,” the president remarked.

President Mahama recommended the use of paper packaging or aluminum foil for the packaging of food.

He added that manufacturers and importers of Styrofoam products should begin preparing for the change. “With the Ministry of Environment, soon we’re going to ban the importation and production of Styrofoam in Ghana. Our food packaging will be made from paper and also from aluminium material,” he said.

Ghana generates an estimated 840,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year, according to a report by the Auditor General on plastic waste management.

According to AG, only about 9.5% of this waste undergoes recycling, highlighting an urgent need for enhanced waste management and recycling strategies. The remaining 90.5% is either littered, dumped in drains, or burned in open areas without consideration of the environmental consequences.

Climate change is a global crisis driven by human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and excessive plastic waste.

In Ghana, environmental advocates have been vocal about the dangers of plastic pollution, emphasising its role in clogging waterways, harming marine life, and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Organisations like Plastic Punch and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been leading efforts to reduce single-use plastics, with campaigns encouraging recycling, consumer behaviour change, and policy reforms.

The government introduced the National Plastics Management Policy in 2020 to manage plastic waste across its entire lifecycle and promote a circular economy for plastics.