Community Plastic Buyback Centre has been inaugurated and handed over at Effiakuma in the Effia Kwesiminstim Municipal Assembly (EKMA) in the Western Region.
The Plastic Buyback Centre is to control the plastic waste menace, help in keeping the environment clean, create new job opportunities, among others.
The centre, supported by Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE) under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and managed by ASA NWURA – a waste management company, has a volunteer group with tricycles to pick volumes of plastic waste from households and communities within the municipality and beyond.
With this centre, individuals can also send their waste plastics for weighing; and in exchange, can take any products available of their choice or money.
At the centre, these plastics are put in a crusher which crushes them into flakes as a recycled product and later be bought by companies such us Unilever, Voltic, Coca Cola Bottling Company, Fan Milk, PZ Cussons, Guinness Ghana Limited, all under GRIPE.
Project’s goal
The project is to create value and green jobs for the local community through plastic waste collection, sorting, recycling and upcycling. Also, it is to create a community culture of responsible consumption that enhances biodiversity conservation.
Again, it is to enhance the recovery of plastic waste through an all-inclusive incentive-based model aimed at tacking land-based litter in vicinities and towns located near waterways.
Handing over
Chief Executive Officer (CE0) of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Seth Twum-Akwaboah, at a brief ceremony to hand over the centre, noted that there are three groups of people contributing to plastic pollution in the country.
“These are the producers of plastics, companies using plastics as their packaging materials, and then the lager group which are the consumers,” he said.
He explained that companies which make use of plastic as their packaging materials came together to form GRIPE under AGI to get rid of the plastic menace in the country by recycling, hence, the need to support this buyback centre.
“It is very important that we appreciate what these companies are trying to help us do and encourage the communities to make good use of the centre, and advise ASA NWURA to maintain the facility,” he added.
Benjamin Agyin Turkson, Chief Executive Officer of ASA NWURA, explained that there are field coordinators who will be collecting the plastic waste within the municipality.
He called for segregation of waste from households and encouraged individuals to stop littering the environment with plastics.
President of GRIPE, Basil Yaw Ampofo, said this initiative is also aimed at ensuring green environment as he also called for segregation of waste, especially plastics, in homes.
Madam Kate Cann, an Environmental and Sanitation Officer at the Effia Kwesiminstim Municipal Assembly (EKMA), pointed out that refuse collection has always been a headache for the assembly since individuals indiscriminately throw plastic around, so she lauded ASA NWURA for this initiative.
