A new solid waste treatment plant will be built in Ghana. It will be managed for Zoomlion, the company that provides the public waste management service in several towns in this West African country. The facility is under construction in the Sefwi Wiawso district, North West Region. The future plant will occupy an area of approximately 41 hectares made available to Zoomlion by the Sefwi Wiawso authorities.
The unit will have facilities for sorting, recycling plastic waste and composting organic waste. The plant will be capable of processing 200 tonnes of solid waste per day. According to President Nana Akufo-Addo, this will improve solid waste management, produce organic compost for horticultural and agronomic purposes, reduce the rate of plastic pollution and promote the circular economy in Ghana.
The country generates 5 million tonnes of waste per year. According to a study (2017) conducted by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, 60% of this waste could be transformed into organic waste, while 80% could be recycled into plastics and other products.
The project to build a waste treatment and composting plant in Sefwi Wiawso is also expected to create 250 direct and indirect jobs in the locality. The Ghanaian government will invest $17.5 million, or more than 101.5 million Ghanaian cedis. It also plans to inaugurate the factory in four months’ time, in January 2021.
Inès Magoum