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Mr Michael Padi Tuwor (with microphone), acting Managing Director of Accra Compost and Recycline Plant, conducting dignitaries round the plant. Those with them are Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal (3rd left), Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong (2nd right) and Mohammed Adjei Sowah (middle), MCE of Accra.
Mr Michael Padi Tuwor (with microphone), acting Managing Director of Accra Compost and Recycline Plant, conducting dignitaries round the plant. Those with them are Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal (3rd left), Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong (2nd right) and Mohammed Adjei Sowah (middle), MCE of Accra.

$20m integrated recycling and compost plant inaugurated in Accra

Forging public-private partnerships (PPPs) is essential for the attainment of the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Minister for Business Development, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, at the inauguration of a $20-million integrated recycling and compost plant in Accra on Friday, Dr Bawumia said: “It is noteworthy that as a government, PPPs to us are very essential to fuel our effort to attain the ambitious objectives of 2030’s SDGs, especially Goal Six, which relates to the provision of clean water, sanitation and disasters.”

“This agenda for the SDGs is expected to address the three interconnected elements of sustainable development — economic development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.

“We are without doubt that the integrated recycling and compost plant whose launch we are here to witness appropriately addresses these three pillars,” the Vice-President said.

He said the government was mindful that ensuring sustainable waste management required a strong partnership between it and the private sector and explained that it was in recognition of the private sector’s contribution to the growth of the economy that the government increased access to credit for the sector from 7.9 per cent (GH¢2.6 billion) in September 2017 to 13 per cent (GH¢4.7 billion) in 2018.

Compost plant

The plant, built by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, with its European partner, Komptech, is a 400-tonne facility that employs the most modern technology to recycle organic, plastic and other waste into usable raw materials to feed agricultural and other industries.

It is the first of 16 recycling and compost plants the company will construct in all the regions.

Located at Old Fadama, it is expected to create job opportunities for more than 500 people in the value chain, while at the same time offering students hands-on practical learning. 

Commenting on the new plant, Dr Bawumia said: “This will go a long way to support the government’s plan to promote agriculture through the Planting for Food and Jobs and the One District, One Factory (1D1F) programmes.”

Touching on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s pledge to make Accra the cleanest city by the end of his first term, he said: “Government alone does not have the requisite logistics and capacity to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. We will, therefore, continue to collaborate with private sector operators such as Zoomlion and others to achieve this laudable objective of making Accra and Ghana clean.”

He said it was because of the President’s commitment to rid the country of filth that there had been a marked improvement in solid waste management in the Accra metropolis from 16.6 per cent to 53 per cent.

He urged MMDAs not to only patronise the facility but also ensure that the bye-laws on environmental sanitation were duly enforced.

Waste Recovery Park

The Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Mr Joseph Siaw Adjepong, said the plant had a high material recovery rate of up to 90 per cent of mixed waste, the capacity to process 200 metric tonnes of waste a day and nearly 100 metric tonnes of compost per day to support the country’s agricultural and horticultural ventures.

“The plant is designed as a multi-purpose facility with the capacity to process plastics into pellets and discover other materials such as paper, electronic waste, among others,” he explained.

He said the plant was sited in a waste management enclave which would serve as the Accra Waste Recovery Park (AWRP).

“In this connection, therefore, from the municipal solid waste brought here, materials recovered in the form of plastics, paper, aluminium, glass and metal, to mention a few, will be used as raw materials by factories that will be set up here on this park to make new products,” he said, adding that all the initiatives being undertaken by Zoomlion fell in line with the government’s vision of making Accra and Ghana clean.

Attitudinal change

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, in a speech read on her behalf by one of her deputies, Mr Patrick Boamah, called for attitudinal change.

She stated that the country could only curb poor sanitation if there was attitudinal change among the citizenry.

“Zoomlion keeps daring all the odds and keeps springing up wonderful innovations to help this country solve its sanitation problems. With your commitment and can-do spirit, I have no doubt that in the short to medium term, Accra, and for that matter Ghana, will be the cleanest among its peers in Africa,” she said.

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, for his part, said plastic waste was posing challenges to the country.

He said it was against that background that his ministry had developed a comprehensive strategy for managing plastic waste in a sustainable manner.

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