$ 20 million integrated recycling and composting plant commissioned in Accra

General News on Friday, April 5th, 2019

Source: atinkaonline.com

2019-04-05

A $ 20 million Integrated Recycling and Composting Plant (IRECOP) was commissioned at Accra's Waste Recovery Facility by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies.

The integrated recycling and composting plant, which has a waste recovery rate of 80% and a processing capacity of 800 tonnes of solid waste on a sixteen (16) hour workstation, was inaugurated on Friday. .

The plant is designed to further process about 200 tons of compost per day. The more than 60 tonnes of compost that would be produced daily per plant would move more than 864,000 bags of chemical fertilizer imported each year to Ghana.

It will also serve as a research and training center for educational institutions. Students will be allowed to use the facilities for project work, internships and related work. The installation could also be beneficial for industrial visits and visits.

The factories have the capacity to recover the waste that would have been buried and processed into raw materials for the industry. This preserves the environment of pollution and the space required for the installation of new landfills.

Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, explained that since its creation in 2006, Zoomlion Ghana Limited has always considered waste as a resource to exploit.

He further explained that the unavailability of landfill sites in the country, coupled with high operating costs, had pushed his company to invest in recycling facilities in order to solve the huge problem of landfills. waste in the country.

"We started with the introduction of the tricycle concept in waste management. Trucks were then brought in to speed up the process of transporting waste to landfills. In 1991, the government operated 21 dumps. All of these dumps have been covered and closed because the life of a landfill is two (2) years. Most of them were funded by donors. Some of the landfills are currently full and cause nuisance to the residents of the areas where they are. The high cost of operations is related to the problem of speed of execution, as trucks have to travel long distances amidst intense traffic congestion to reach landfills.

"Another aspect of the problem is that when it rains, trucks can not run efficiently. In light of this, Zoomlion decided to introduce composting and recycling as part of the recovery of resources from waste, "Siaw said.

He said, "as a research, innovation and development-oriented enterprise," Zoomlion's review of operational methods underscored the need to continue transforming their operational methods that depended on in discharge. According to him, this agenda of transformation also coincided with the period when the government declared to want to see Accra the cleanest possible city as soon as possible.

"Conscious that the waste management system in use could not match the speed at which the government was determined to ensure the protection of the environment, Zoomlion's motivation to be part of the solution This prompted us to collaborate with our European technology partners – Komptech Austria. We shared and exchanged ideas on the results of our research on the concept of mobile and integrated waste management technology that can be quickly installed and able to manage the type of mixed waste we currently have in our communities. The results of this technology research partnership are being confirmed by the project of a $ 20 million integrated recycling and composting plant on the verge of being commissioned, "Siaw added.