Minister lauds Zoomlion’s waste recycling project

Dr (Mrs) Freda Prempeh, the Minister of State in charge of Works and Housing, has commended Zoomlion Ghana Limited for its waste recycling project being implemented in parts of the country.

“The vision of Zoomlion to establish recycling plants in all the 16 regions for waste management is laudable and exceptional and the Government would support the company to achieve that,” she said in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency.

Dr (Mrs) Prempeh, also the Member of Parliament for Tano North in the Ahafo Region, led the Parliamentary Select Committees on local Government, Finance, Environment, and Works and Housing to some waste recycling plants projects of the company underway in the country.

The committees visited sites in the Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono, Central, Western, Northern, Savanah and Upper East regions to see the progress of work on plants under Zoomlion’s Integrated Recycling and Composting Plant (IRECOP) project, and to advice the government accordingly.

IRECOP is a medical waste treatment plant and landfill for residual waste management being implemented by the company in eight regions.

The facilities receive solid, liquid and medical waste and have the capacity to create several direct and indirect jobs for the youth.

Dr Prempeh said the Government was committed to investing huge resources into waste management and advised Ghanaians to refrain from indiscriminate dumping of plastic and solid waste into gutters.

Those and other factors, she said, contributed to flooding, and expressed the hope that the IRECOP project would help address flooding, which remained a huge concern to the Ministry of Works and Housing.

The Minister called on the National Commission for Civic Education to step up the nationwide public advocacy on good sanitation to help change people’s behaviour and mindset for better sanitation and waste management.

“Zoomlion must also take the responsibility and collaborate with the various Municipal and District Assemblies and key stakeholders to sensitise the populace on proper waste and sanitation management,” Dr Prempeh stated.

Mr Peter Dagadu, a Landfill Site Manager of the Landfill Company, a subsidiary of Zoomlion, said the company had taken delivery of equipment and expressed the hope that the majority of the plants would be completed by August this year.

He said over 500 motorbikes would be provided to collect waste on daily basis.