The Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE), in partnership with ASA Nwura, has embarked on a community plastic buyback project at Effiakuma in the Western Region.
The community plastic buyback event is one of the initiatives of GRIPE designed to reach low-income communities; to economically empower people at the local level through an exchange of plastics with cash by separating and selling their post-consumer plastic waste.
The project engaged over 150 residents on proper disposal and segregation of waste and gathered about 2,2480kgs of plastics (pure water sachet-LDPE and PET bottles) which will be washed, crashed into flasks, and recycled into other useful everyday products.
Community members, especially women, who participated in the exercise lauded the initiative and were enthusiastic to have another buyback project organized in the community.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Louisa Kabobah, the Project Manager on GRIPE stated that GRIPE’s mission is to implement recycling and second-life solutions that reduce the impact of post-consumer plastics on the environment.
She further noted that the plastic buyback initiative seeks to engage communities on the sustainable handling and management of waste, keep the environment cleaner, feed families, and empower communities especially the youth, to view waste as a resource and take advantage of the many waste management job opportunities currently available within the plastic value chain in the country.
Louisa further urged the community members not to relent in their efforts towards keeping their surroundings cleaner, greener and safer.
She challenged Effiakuma to collect even more LDPE and PET plastics to earn rewards and disclosed that, similar buyback projects shall be considered in the near future for other neighbouring communities.
The active involvement of Effiakuma was overwhelming, and the support of the volunteers was what made the event successful.
The founder and CEO of ASA Nwura, Mr. Benjamin Turkson, said “plastics only become problematic when they are poorly managed, and we believe that there are much untapped benefits along the value chain that can be harnessed to create simultaneous social, economic and environmental benefits. Working with a community at a time, our drive as ASA Nwura is to beat down plastic pollution drastically through shared responsibility and an incentive-based manner that could create income streams for low-income households. We attribute this success to our partners and the selfless volunteers and the people of Effiakuma who made this possible.”
The Executive Director, CENVAST, George Dorgbetor, said, the Community Plastic Buyback event is a good initiative contributing to retrieval of several metric tonnes of plastic waste from the environment for recycling which would have clogged the gutters and contributed to flooding.
“Volunteer’s contribution in promoting a clean environment and education on sanitation is significant and for us at Centre for Volunteerism and Social Transformation (CENVAST). Our focus is to promote the values of volunteering and empower more people, especially the youth, to take up volunteerism and develop the culture of service to support community development.”
One of the waste pickers who joined in the event said, “I have been collecting plastics for 25 years now. The initiative is a laudable one as it is educating us on proper plastic waste management as well as giving us the women the opportunity to make additional money from the plastics we collect”.
About GRIPE
The Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE) is an industry-led coalition formed under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), with a stake in the plastics sector to integrate sustainable waste management solutions, particularly around plastics.
GRIPE was launched in 2017 by FanMilk PLC, Guinness Ghana Limited, Unilever Ghana Limited, Nestle Ghana Limited, PZ Cussons, Dow Chemical Limited, Voltic Ghana Limited, and Coca-Cola Bottling Company. The Accra Brewery Limited, Pernod Ricard, Mohinani Group, KGM Industries Limited, and Finepack Industries Limited, have since joined the coalition.
About ASA Nwura
ASA Nwura is a waste recovery start-up company based in the Western Region that is setting up an incentive-based scheme for plastics.
The post GRIPE embarks on Community Buyback Project to tackle plastic pollution appeared first on Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana.
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