Plastic Waste Management: ECOWAS Lawmakers Tour Accra Compost and Recycling Plant

Legislators of joint committees from the ECOWAS Parliament yesterday (July 30) paid a field visit to the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant at Adjen Kotoku in the Accra to learn some of the best practices of sustainable waste management in Ghana.

The MPs from the committees on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Energy and Mines as well as Infrastructure were at the plant to acquaint themselves with recycling of liquid and solid waste, especially plastics.

They witnessed first-hand how the first state-of the art waste sorting and composting facility in West Africa.

The plant, with a processing capacity of 600 metric tons per day, receives urban wastes, treated and processed them into reusable end products such as organic manure, plastic pellets, recyclable products such as papers, metal scraps for both local and international markets.

The visit, led by the Chairman of the Committee on Infrastructure, Mamadou Sako, formed part of activities earmarked for the four-day delocalised meeting of joint committees the delegation is attending in Winneba from July 30 to August 3, 2024. 

During the period, the legislators from various Parliaments within the ECOWAS region will be informed about the strategies and mechanisms developed for an environmentally sound management of plastic waste within the bloc. 

Adding value to wastes

Briefing the legislators on the operations, the Managing Director of ACARP, Micheal Padi Tuwor, said currently not all wastes generated in Accra were sent to the plant for processing, with other taken to various landfill sites.

He said most of the wastes, lifted from sources such as homes, marketplaces, streets, came in not separated.

“That is the essence of this investment you see here just so that we are able to identify and recover the salient materials and we add value to them and send them back into the system reuse.

“So, the material comes in as a raw material and then it leaves our premises as a product. In instances where we are not able to finish a product like in the case of a compost, the plastics are semi-processed for local plastic manufacturing companies,” he said.

Until 2023, the MD said all the plastic waste recovered were consumed locally, with the exception of PET which were exported to Europe for the manufacturing of synthetic fibre and others.  

He, however, said recently there were companies in Ghana that were also consuming polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and “so we no longer export them”.

Research

Mr Tuwor told the delegation that close to about seven per cent to 11 per cent waste the company received included textiles, the company was unable to use them for anything.

That, together with plastics like bottles and combustible materials like leather, shoes and bags, were recovered as residual wastes that were kept on the plant’s landfill for the production of refuse-derived fuel, an energy substitute material that could extensively applied in the energy and cement industry.

The material, he said, could also be used for boilers instead of the use of residual fuel oil.

“This is a research that we are doing and we are almost there. Samples have been given out some companies in Ghana that are trying the calorific value whether it meeting actual energies that they require.

“Once we are able to do that then it means close to 95 per cent to 97 per cent of all the waste that comes here is processed into another product,” he said.

Expansion 

Hinting on effort to expand such plants, Mr Tuwor said currently the company had an arrangement with the government of Ghana to employ a group to construct similar plants in all 16 regions of the country.

“As I speak 12 out of the 16 regions have plants fully installed, 10 are operational and four plants are in and they waiting for the completion of civil works to get them installed,” he said.

In addition to the solid wastes handled by the company, the ACAPRA also has a 1,000 cubic square per day for waste water treatment that treats faecal materials to about 97 to 98 per cent clean before the water is discharged into the ecosystem. 

Eye opener 

After the tour, Mr Sako said visit the facility was an “eye opener” for the MPs from the ECOWAS Parliament.

He, therefore, expressed the hope such the best sustainable waste management being adopted by Ghana could be initiated in other members states to reduce the menace of plastic to the environment and water bodies.

source: graphiconline