'Every tonne of waste we dump is a job we bury' — Dr Siaw Agyepong

Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, has declared that Africa is literally burying its economic future in its landfills, explaining “every tonne of waste we dump is a job we bury.”

Dr Siaw Agyepong, therefore, challenged African governments, investors and development partners to see waste not as a liability but as the continent's next major industrial frontier.

He stressed the need to turn Africa's estimated 17 million tonnes of daily waste generation into millions of sustainable jobs, megawatts of clean energy, organic fertiliser for food security, and raw materials for manufacturing.

Dr Siaw Agyepong, in an interview with Modern Ghana News on Tuesday, explained that the continent's current linear approach ‘produce, use and dump’ is economically destructive and environmentally unsustainable.

He advocated for a complete transition to a ‘Circular Economy Model', where waste is seen as feedstock, adding that under this model, the waste management value chain alone can absorb a significant portion of Africa's 65 per cent youth unemployment crisis.

He explained that every tonne of waste collected requires logistics, tricycles, trucks, drivers, and youth waste collectors, and formalising and scaling this creates immediate mass jobs at the community level.

He added that sorting 1,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste can employ over 50 people and recover plastics, metals and paper worth thousands of dollars in raw material value, while recycling plastics into pellets, metals into scraps, and paper into packaging creates light manufacturing jobs and reduces Africa's import bill for raw materials. One recycling plant can create 200 to 500 direct and indirect jobs.

Dr Siaw Agyepong, who has built Jospong Group into one of Africa's largest waste management conglomerates, stressed that over 60 per cent of Africa's waste is organic.

“Composting it into organic fertiliser can employ thousands while restoring Africa's degraded soils, boosting crop yields, and reducing the continent's dependence on expensive imported chemical fertilisers.

“Investing in waste-to-energy projects allows Africa to convert non-recyclable refuse into sustainable power generation, addressing two crises at once: ‘dirty cities and energy poverty’ while reducing methane emissions from landfills that drive climate change.”

The Jospong Group Executive Chairman explained that "when we dump waste, we dump plastic that could have become a school chair, we dump organic matter that could have become fertiliser for our farmers, and we dump refuse that could have become electricity for our homes. We are burying jobs, burying energy, and burying our own prosperity."

According to Dr Siaw Agyepong, this is not theory. The Jospong Group has provided proof of concept through its integrated waste management infrastructure across Ghana and its ongoing expansion across the continent under the ‘Jospong Africa Expansion Project'.

The Group currently operates Integrated Recycling and Compost Plants (IRECOPs), waste-to-energy initiatives, faecal sludge treatment plants, medical waste facilities, and landfill management sites, directly employing thousands of people and indirectly supporting millions of livelihoods across its value chain.

"We have demonstrated that waste management is not a social service alone — it is a profitable, bankable, and scalable business that creates dignity of labour for the youth, empowers women, and builds local economies," he said.

He noted that the Group has initiated a strategic business development and market penetration strategy into the African terrain to share experiences, leverage common strengths and help move the continent out of the poverty pit through African solutions to African challenges.

Dr Siaw Agyepong also called for a new economic diplomacy for Africa led by African business leaders.

He called on African governments to create deliberate, concerted policies and incentives to support indigenous African companies to lead the charge, adding that this should include access to concessionary financing for green projects, tax incentives for recycling industries, enforcement of sanitation bye-laws, and mandatory off-take of organic compost by ministries of agriculture.

"It is important for African governments to adopt concerted policies and interventions to support indigenous African companies to drive development and economic growth across the continent. The global economic development demands that Africa take a proactive approach to its economic transformation," he said.

He further called for regional integration and the dismantling of artificial colonial barriers that prevent African waste management technologies and expertise from moving freely under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Dr Siaw Agyepong indicated that the path to Africa's economic independence lies in its ability to utilise its own size, its abundant natural resources, its huge labour force and its enabling climate to defend the continent from exploitation.

"The future of Africa's youth is not buried in gold mines alone. It is buried in our bins. If we collect it, sort it, recycle it and convert it, we will create a brighter future for the youth and for generations to come," he affirmed.

The Jospong Group Executive Chairman noted, "Effective waste management demands a united effort from African governments, businesses, and citizens alike. Recycling begins at home, and when combined with robust infrastructure and community engagement, it can transform the continent into a beacon of cleanliness, green growth and economic sovereignty."