Let’s join hands to achieve MDG on sanitation — Zoomlion
The communications Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr Robert Coleman, has called on Ghanaians to join hands with the company and other waste and sanitation management companies to strive to meet the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goal (MDG7) on Environmental Sustainability by the year 2015.
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Mr Coleman was speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic to outline the vision and plans the company had developed in order to meet the target of improving basic sanitation in the country.
“A New Year does not bring along an improvement in sanitation but a change in attitude brings an improved environment,” he said
According to Mr Coleman, attitudinal change was key if the country was to meet its goals on sanitation, adding that all must strive to complement the efforts of Zoomlion “by changing our attitude and adopting better lifestyle towards the environment.”
He expressed worry about bad sanitation practices in which people dumped refuse indiscriminately into gutters with impunity, littered everywhere, dumped refuse at unauthorised places, defecated into polythene bags and threw them into drains, among others, stressing that such behaviours would not aid to improve sanitation in the country.
He called on the municipal, metropolitan and district assemblies (MMDAs) to amend their byelaws on sanitation and establish sanitation courts in their localities to deal expeditiously with persons who engaged in improper sanitary practices to serve as a deterrent to others.
“All environmental health officers in the assemblies should intensify inspection of premises and drains in front of shops, houses, commercial institutions and summon such outfits which did not keep their environment clean to the courts for prosecution,” he said
Mr Coleman expressed the view that “if we invoke our byelaws and crack the whip, people will change their attitudes.”
He called on chiefs, religious and opinion leaders to help the assemblies in which they resided to organise periodic cleanup exercises and educate their people to adhere to proper sanitation practices.
Plans to transform the sanitation situation.
On the vision and plans to transform the sanitation situation to meet the MDG7 target, Mr Coleman said the company had recognised that the final disposal sites and the points of collection were usually far apart and intended to construct transfer stations in such localities in order to facilitate the easy collection and haulage of waste.
The transfer stations, he said, would serve as temporary dumpsites before transporting the waste to the landfill sites or compost plants, usually, at night.
Mr Coleman said the company also intended to embark on massive cleanup exercises in areas where filth had engulfed the surroundings and also use the opportunity to engage the people on the need to change their attitude by organising durbars at market centres, lorry stations etc.
That, according to him, would be done together with the Information Services Department of the Ministry of Information, adding that the company would deal swiftly with the plastic bag menace in the country this year by setting up plastic recycling plants in most assemblies to recover the plastics from the environment.
Meanwhile, he said, work had started on the construction of the Kumasi compost plant to enhance waste collection and disposal in the city.
“Improving sanitation is a shared responsibility and we must all help the government to succeed,” he added.
Adjin Kotoku and Abokobi dump sites
Mr Coleman said work was still going on at the Adjin Kotoku Composite and Recycling plant, adding that the facility receive a lot of refuse trucks daily.
“We do a lot of separation of the waste, plastics, card boards and rubber materials which are further processed into organic materials, such as fertiliser, for plant use,” he said.
Concerning the Abokobi dumpsite, Mr Coleman said the company was currently liaising with the assembly members to see how best they could decommission the place to be used for recreational purposes.
“We are aware that the Abokobi dumpsite is full to capacity so we are working with the authorities to see if we could replicate what was done at the former Mallam dumpsite at the place,” he said.
He said all waste materials were currently sent to the Tema engineered sanitation landfill site at Kpone which was jointly managed by the company and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).
