Waste management giant, Zoomlion Ghana Limited will with immediate effect distribute one million (1,000,000) waste bins of various sizes to households and individuals according to their waste generation demands across Ghana in collaboration with the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). The exercise will commence as soon as data on the numbers of households and members in each household is ready in any district.
Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Executive Chairman of the Jospong Groups of Companies and founder of Zoomlion disclosed in Accra while speaking to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) at a capacity building conference for MMDCEs under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD).
He said Zoomlion has secured a loan facility of ten million United States Dollars at Ecobank as a commitment to this effect to help achieve the President’s vision of making Ghana a clean country. He charged the MMDCE’s not to allow the President’s vision to fail by ensuring that their constituents embrace and make good use of this bin gesture from Zoomlion.
Dr. Agyepong said places such as Singapore, Dubai, Mauritius and Kigali were once bedevilled with filth but are most adored and clean today due to practical strategies which is one reason why he believes in the president’s vision.
He went further to proffer a single solution to Ghana’s waste problems as “THE BIN SOLUTION” asking, where will refuse go if they are not in the bin? And the answer by the MMDCEs was the obvious “the gutters”.
He said in order not for the refuse to go into the gutters, choke the gutters and cause disasters in our country there is the need for concerted efforts by especially the MMDA/MMDCEs to ensure that the bin distribution is successful and that people use them for the purpose for which they were distributed.
The waste management entrepreneur said as leaders in their various MMDAs with the requisite powers to enforce the bye-laws they could not sit and watch their communities get overwhelmed with waste to bring the president’s vision to question.
He catalogued the benefits of the bin to the MMDAs as job creation, savings on NHIS, prevention of communicable diseases, creation of tourism opportunities, keeping the communities clean and beautiful as well as generating revenue among others.
Dr. Ageypong further promised to distribute a hundred mini plastic crashers free of charge to MMDAs who have ready sheds to install them and crash plastics for his conglomerate to buy for recycling purposes and disputed the fact that banning of plastics will be the solution to the waste problems.
He said waste is a resource like gold and oil among others that when properly managed can bring good returns to the nation in terms of revenue and employment generation.
“Waste is a resource like gold, diamond, timber and cocoa- you must see it as a big investment opportunity for your district as recovery levels are 100 % at all times”.
In response the MMDCEs applauded the entrepreneur for being such a visionary entrepreneur saying they will support him to help achieve the president’s vision. They appreciated his quest to help solve Ghana’s waste problems.
