The top three waste pickers received special gifts
Given the importance of waste pickers in the waste value-chain, Voltic (GH) Limited in collaborations with its partners Total Petroleum Ghana and Coliba celebrated 200 waste-pickers today.
The event which took place at the 37 Liberation Road Total Service Station in Accra, forms part of the #IRECYCLE programme which has seen the distribution of 40 special containers for the segregation of plastic waste.
The success of the programme is partly due to the mapping of waste pickers to the 40 containers thereby ensuring prompt management of the bins to prevent overflowing.
At the event, Joyce Ahiadorme, Public Affairs and Communication Manager of Voltic was full of praise for the waste pickers for their commitment to making the project successful thus far.
She mentioned, “On November 23rd last year, we stood here to launch the IRECYCLE project with our partners. We began with 5 bins as a pilot, today I am happy to see that through the commitment of our partners particularly the waste pickers, we have collected 500kg of plastic with 15 bins in 2months.
These plastics which could have ended up on the landfills is now going back into the circular economy to be reused."
"With all the 40 containers fully deployed to different locations, I have no doubt that we will begin to record 200kg monthly. At Voltic we are committed to driving waste management as a way of life for our employees and their families. It is my appeal to all consumers of our products to join us to end plastic pollution. Understand that it is our civic responsibility to segregate our waste, put them in these bins or look for a waste picker near you for onward recycling.”
The top three (3) waste pickers, received special gifts while all 200 waste-pickers enjoyed a free screening for hepatitis B&C, Breast, prostate, diabetes and malaria. There were also given gloves as personal protective clothing to prevent them from such diseases.
Speaking at the event, The Managing Director of Total, Eric Fanchini MD of Total reaffirmed their support towards the environment stressing, 0ur partnership to promote plastic recycling started in Ghana in November 2018 with the launch of IRECYCLE project with Voltic and Coliba.
On this project, we provide a space for the recycling bins at our various Total services stations. We also provide free fuel to Coliba, the whole year, to enable their tricycles to pick-up the plastics collected by the Waste Pickers in each neighborhood. This facilitates their movement and saves them time and money.
Proper plastic waste management is vital for safeguarding the environment and we at Total Petroleum Ghana Limited are pleased to champion plastic recycling together with Voltic, Coliba and GRIPE.
The waste pickers contribute 100% to the effectiveness of the IRECYCLE programme as they are connected to the recycle bin to recover clean plastics at virtually at no cost to them. They, in turn, get paid better prices for the recyclables they recover from the bins.
Mr. Prince Agbata mentioned that “The work of waste pickers can be hectic, comes with low incentive and health risks. These waste pickers are exposed to health complications through dog bites, cut and exposure by working on landfills as well as picking from the streets without safety wears.
The IRECYCLE project becomes an alternative source of getting the plastic cleaner and for a better price. I am most grateful to Voltic and Total who have made this programme possible and for thinking about waste pickers on a day like this.
The project is a two-way solution to ensure that segregation is done at source by consumers and dropped off at IRECYCLE bin. This way, waste pickers are connected to this bins to have access to clean and non -polluted recycling materials which is often the case if they pick form streets and landfills and get poor sales for it. IRECYCLE gives waste pickers clean recyclables for free, provides the safe collection and recovery points for which they get paid for the waste.
The locations of these bins include East Legon, Atomic Energy Station, Total House,Liberia Road,Oxford Street,Liberation Road, ACP, Tesano ,Voltic House, Laterbiokorshi, Link Road,North Industrial Area, Palace, Lapaz , Achimota, Anyaa,Sowutowm ,Motorway 1, Ashaiman,Community 1, Hospital Road ,Tema Harbor Road,Darkuman Junction, Accra New Town, Liberty Avenue, Mallam, Liberation Road, Avernor, Legon , Kotobabi, Pig Farm, Ofankor, Powerland, Haatso, Achimota Village, Sakaman, Lokko Road, Kanda Overhead, Jamrock Restaurant and Bush Canteen ,
