A
recent World Bank report on the state of municipal solid waste around the world
predicted a sharp rise in the amount of garbage generated by urban residents from
the current 1.3 billion to 2.2 billion tonnes per year by 2025.
According
to the report, the annual cost of solid waste management is projected to rise
from the current $205 billion to $375 billion, with much of the increase is
coming in rapidly from growing cities in developing countries.
Ghana
is surely not exempt from the consolidated data on waste generation,
collection, composition, and disposal.
The
rapid growth in the country’s urban population calls for urgent attention in
resource mobilization “to reduce, reuse, recycle, or
recover as much waste as possible before burning it (and recovering the energy)
or otherwise disposing of it”, as observed by Rachel Kyte, World Bank’s Vice President for Sustainable Development.
It
has stated that a city that cannot effectively manage its waste is rarely able
to manage more complex services such as health, education, or transportation.
Managing
solid waste does not only come at huge financial cost to the – in areas of
collection and disposal – but poses serious health risks to most communities.
Waste
disposal constitutes one of the major environmental sanitation challenges to
city authorities in Ghana.
Thousands
of tones of solid waste are generated daily, most of which are dumped at
disposal sites, some ending up in drains to cause environmental havoc such as
flooding.
Waste
management firm, Zoomlion Ghana has established a waste-to-compost plant to
convert organic waste into fertiliser to boost agriculture production.
But
more of such initiatives are required for the country to benefit from generated
garbage.
An
innovative social enterprise has set out to rescue some of the millions of
plastic trash and other waste materials from Ghana’s waste stream by turning
such waste into high fashion goods whiles creating employment opportunities,
restoring dignity and financial independence for the youth.
The
Recycle Not A Waste Initiative or RECNOWA trains and employs street youth
from disadvantaged communities to clear their streets of such waste and
applying creative talents to transform them into handmade designer products.
The Initiative currently engages
about 25 young people in the Greater Accra Region but plans to scale up to
other regions of the country.
“We’ve
been contributing our quota to help the city waste management services and
whatever Zoomlion [Ghana Limited] and other players in the field are doing.
Apart from that we’ve also been able to create employment opportunities and
getting people who might not have anything from just taking the trash and
making some money”, stated Kwaku Yamoah
Kyei Co-founder and Global Strategist of the Initiative.
Processed
products from the waste materials include bags, wallets, jewellery, footwear,
furniture and home décor that are ethically produced and eco-friendly.
The
products are mainly patronized by foreign tourists though Ghanaians are also
fascinated by the artistic designs and creativities.
Kwaku
has declared the readiness of RECNOWA to support the youth in local communities
to tap into opportunities in waste recycling to be financially independent.
“It
is not only about responding to the call of protecting mother nature but it’s
also about opportunity for yourself to create something for yourself… and our
doors are always opened and we’re ready to share with other young people who
are interested in replicating such a project”, urged the RECNOWA Co-founder.
Human
waste could also become a precious commodity in parts of Ghana with an ongoing
solution to transform fecal sludge treatment into a profit-making venture.
Waste Enterprisers Limited, a sanitation and
waste energy company, is replacing the outmoded concept of disposal-oriented
treatment with a technology and business model for producing biodiesel.
The firm has developed innovative ways of reusing
human waste with the aim of improving sanitation services for the poor whilst
restructuring the economics of sanitation in the country.
Another
Chief Operations Officer of Waste Enterprisers, Timothy Wade says the fecal
sludge-to-biodiesel plant would create a sanitation revolution in Ghana.
“Our
founding philosophy is that there is energy in waste and that waste should be
treated like a resource and not thrown away. So we’re piloting several
different businesses in order to take waste and recycle it into a usable
product”, he stated.
With
millions of tons of human waste being dumped into the environment everyday, the
result is significant damage to public health and the environment.
The
biodiesel plants can eliminate dumping of fecal sludge into the environment
while simultaneously offsetting fossil fuel consumption.
“We
hope that within 18-24 months, we’d actually be able to build and commercialize
a full-scale plant that will be treat the equivalent of 100 truck load of waste
everyday”, noted Timothy.
According
to him, financial incentives from the project would be used to service septic
tanks and latrines in poor settlements.
Solid
waste currently constitutes an environmental menace to Ghanaian cities, but
there surely exist an inherent potential for wealth creation if the garbage can
be managed efficiently and effectively.
Solid
and plastic waste could become expensive raw materials for Ghana’s green
economy when projects like the RECNOWA and Waste Enterprise projects are scaled
up in the country.
These projects would also contribute employment creation
and unleashed the country’s wealth stored in garbage, especially in registering
projects to benefit from the global
carbon market.
Ghana
would then be positioned to tap into the multi-billion dollar carbon credit
market through the implementation of the
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Reducing Emission from Deforestation,
Forest Degradation (REDD+) and other mechanisms aimed at promoting sustainable
development.
