KMA to recycle saw dust into fertilizer

Kumasi, April 23, GNA - The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) is collaborating with Scan Style Bio-fuel Company Limited, a waste managemen= t firm and some experts to recycle saw dust generated at the Sokoban Wood Village in Kumasi into fertilizer.

The Village currently generates an average of 100-150 tonnes of saw dust daily and this could pose serious environmental challenges if the industrial by-product was not effectively managed. Mr Mark Kakraba, Manager of the Village, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi that, as part of the project an incinerator had been buil= t to burn the saw dust into ashes.

The ashes, he said, would be collected by Scan Style, which would ad= d cow dung and other chemicals to process into fertilizer. Research by soil scientists has shown that mixture of saw dust and c= ow dung was a good source of fertilizer as it restores nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the soil. The Manager said the project was to help avoid similar environmental=

damage left at the Anloga by years of operation of the wood workers befor= e their relocation to the Wood Village.

The wood workers operated at the old site for almost 50 years before=

they relocated in October, last year, to pave way for the construction of=

the Oforikrom- Asokwa by-pass road project to ease traffic congestion in the Kumasi metropolis. The state-of-the-art Village was built at a cost of GH¢46,000,000.= 00 with funding by the French and Ghana Government. The wood workers currently occupy a total land area of about 30 acre= s and operate from 62 purpose-built sheds.

Mr Kakraba said his outfit was liaising with agro-chemical companies=

and some farmers on the possibility of selling the fertilizers to them wh= en the project finally takes off. The management has also stepped up efforts to acquire additional electricity transformers to augment the work of the wood workers.