Waste management leaders in West Africa, Zoomlion Ghana Limited has unveiled an ultramodern technology driven,multipurpose and integrated waste recovery park in the capital Accra. The facility which is designed to serve as a waste recovery hub will process every other waste into usable raw materials or finished products for human use. The centre has the capacity to crush and turn PET bottles into pellets which would be used by a sister company, Universal Plastic Product Recycling Limited (UPPR) to produce waste bins and bin liners to be distributed to households and corporate entities for waste collection, recycle general plastics, organic composting, tyre recycling, metals, wood and glass among others.
The centre will recycle over ninety percent of all kinds of waste and add value to make it a resource which will largely reduce the importation of chemical fertilizer and other plastic products and introduce organic compost to drive Ghana back to organic food production and consumption.
At a well attended ceremony in Accra to commission the park, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies and owner of Zoomlion Ghana Limited Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong stated his unapologetic resolve to help President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and government for that matter to achieve his vision of a cleaner Accra and largely Ghana.
He said upon his assumption of office, the President visited two of his (Agyepong) facilities namely the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP) and the Teshie Waste Transfer Station and encouraged him to defy all challenges and work harder. This, he cited as the motivation which has made the waste entrepreneur spend sleepless nights in order to identify solution driven technologies to aid the president achieve his vision.
In furtherance of his commitment to support the president’s agenda he said sixteen other such plants have been procured to replicate the technology in all regional capitals.
To guarantee that he is walking the talk, Dr. Agyepong gave the assurance that by the end of August this year similar facilities will be dully commissioned in the cities of Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale to begin operations. The facility has the capacity to process 400 tons of waste in a day, 2000 tons in a week and 8000 in a month.
In a speech read for the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia by the Minister of Business Development, Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Awal, the Vice President commended Zoomlion and its Executive Chairman, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong for his commitment to increasing the waste management infrastructure in the country. He said government alone cannot handle infrastructural development and job creation and therefore gave the assurance that government will continue to partner the private sector to create needed development for the welfare of the Ghanaian populace.
An elated Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Biateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) said Zoomlion’s exemplary stance on Ghana’s waste management epitomised the power of the public sector to turn economies around. He gave the assurance that his ministry will continue to streamline strategic policies to make it even easier for the private sector to flourish so as to help create the needed jobs for the Ghanaian people.
He said the development and employment gap in Ghana is a technology gap and that is why his ministry was particularly happy that Zoomlion is using technology to create jobs for Ghanaians.
He hinted that the Plastics Management Policy was at cabinet level for consideration and the necessary approval. When it is in full gear the policy will among other things streamline how plastic product producers and consumers as well as waste managers will operate.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive of Accra, Mr, Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah expressed his excitement for partnering Zoomlion and being the first to receive the facility in his jurisdiction in the whole of Ghana. He was hopeful that the facility will be replicated at the various regions and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies by Zoomlion Ghana Ltd.
A group of the youth, in whose vicinity the facility is cited at Old Fadama, broke out into spontaneous jubilation at the commissioning grounds upon realizing that their kinsmen would be offered opportunities to work in the Park.
Source: Thepressradio.com/Dickson Boadi
