Ghana exports waste

Ghana has started exporting solid waste to Malaysia and China as part of efforts to manage waste effectively.

Currently, two companies are said to be engaged in the purchase and sale of waste to the two countries which recycle them into usable materials. Engineer Owura Safo, Managing Director of the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant Limited made this known when a team, led by the Minister of Local Government, Kwadwo Oppong Ofosu toured sanitation and environmental facilities in Accra last Friday. He said the raw waste, mostly plastic bottles and empty water sachet package, are prepared and exported.

He said the solid waste are bought by two companies since the plant currently processes only a small portion of the waste, stressing that it has plans to commence full recycling of the materials in the second phase of the project.

About 60 tonnes of packaged solid waste are lifted from the plant every week. The team, made up of Greater Accra Regional Minister, Julius Debrah and the Mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije visited the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant Limited located at Adjei Kotoku, a suburb of Accra.

He noted that Accra is estimated to generate over 2500 tonnes of solid waste everyday “but only 60 percent of this waste, representing about 1,500 tones is collected and disposed.” He said the main method for solid waste disposal in the country currently is land filling “but we have a land fill management problem as there are limited sites, lack of the appropriate technology and increasing cost.”

Mr. Safo stated that between 40 and 50 percent of the waste generated is organic matter, which can decompose, adding that his outfit is a subsidiary of the Zoomlion group of companies. He said the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant Limited has the capacity to produce 300 metric tonnes of high quality compost per an eight-hour shift in a day. He said the company has so far generated employment for over 250 people with some of them engaged in the manual sorting of the refuse collected from various and transferred to the plant.