NBU Pilots Plastic Bottle Recycling Project At Asokore Mampong

Implementers of NBU Project through a partnership with Environment360 (a registered non-governmental organization) will soon be piloting a plastic recycling project within Asokore Mampong Municipality as a way of reducing to the barest minimum the level of plastic littering.

Execution of the foregoing initiative which is classified as one of NBU Project's social business is set for piloting this year 2019 and solely focuses on clearing the municipality off all plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate under the acronym name PET.

Implementors of NBU Project under this initiative will liaise with CSOs and recruit a lot of youth within the municipality to play the role as collectors of PET.

Per their line of duty, they (recruitees) will be provided a collection point for the collection of PET and will again be provided with a central hub where all plastic bottles (PET) will be assembled for sorting.

All recruitees (PET COLLECTORS) prior to the commencement of their duty will undergo a technical training by Executives of Environment360, equipped with the knowledge on how to identify PET bottles that meet the standard of Environment360 buyers.

The calling into play of this project is premised on the high level of indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste materials which characterizes a number of communities within the municipality.

According to checks done by this journalist, most of the solid wastes (plastic bottles) have hitherto not been cleared due to the weak supervisory role played by officials of waste management department of Asokore Mampong municipal assembly.

The foregoing has given room for right thinking residents to draw a judgmental conclusion to the effect that officials are ineffective and have not been up to the task as in ensuring a clean municipality.

Choked drainage systems currently define a number of communities within the municipality.

BRIEFING

Briefing CSOs during a round table dialogue, Mr. Daniel Okity-Boamah, Manager for NBU Project disclosed that PET collectors will earn financial incentives through the collection of plastic bottles and will be provided a ready market.

Environment360 he underlined is interested in partnering with NBU to explore the idea of supporting women in creating cooperatives to collect plastic as a social business.

"They envision to identify women who may be interested in earning additional income through the collection of plastic”.

Environment360 is a Ghana-based NGO that works with stakeholders along the waste value chain to create inclusive waste management systems that lead to circular economies.

As part of their work, they support informal sector waste workers in building a better business to not only help increase their daily incomes but also improve the environmental surroundings of the community that they serve.

In order to achieve this, they offer a variety of capacity building, leadership, and business training that help informal sector waste workers gain agency and expand their business.

Best known for the creation of the first successful community scheme for plastics, Environment360 creates tailored programs for urban and coastal communities.

Currently, through its corporate, community and school recycling programs, Environment360 collects an average of 5 tons of PET bottles per month" Mr. Daniel Okity-Boamah announced.