Segregate your wastes at home – Ghanaians urged

Management of Sewerage Systems Ghana Ltd. (SSGL), has appealed to Ghanaians to ensure that the wastes that they generate are properly segregated at home before disposal. This will enable the ease of processing at the plant site.

Head of Processing and Engineering at the SSGL, Eric Simon Amofa-Sarkodie, gave the advise when Members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) toured some waste management facilities in Accra under the Jospong Group of Companies.

Speaking at the Lavender Hill site located at James Town in Accra, which also houses the Mudor Sewege Treatment Plant and the Lavender Hill Faecal Treatment Plant, Amofa-Sarkodie revealed that the company spent over Ghc 20, 000 monthly to separate solid wastes trapped in the liquid wastes discharged at the facility due to non-segregation at homes.

The Lavender Hill facility generates by-products such as biogas, and solid products used for producing organic manure and charcoal while the water is treated for reuse or flushed into the Korle Lagoon.

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The team also visited a medical waste treatment facility at Teshie Nungua, Zoompak – a partnership between Zoomlion and Compak Group, a Turkish waste company.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Zoompak, Durmus Findkci, indicated that the facility is one of its kind in the entire African continent which is why there is a need for the government to give it its maximum support.

He appealed to the government to institute control measures on medical waste management because of its sensitivity, as improper collection and disposal of such wastes can spark major health issues in the country.

“Zoompak is equipped to get rid of medical wastes under hygienic conditions and safe for the environment and the people.”

“Ministry of Health must control all the processes of the sector and also support the investors in terms of funding as the cost of operating the facility is currently born by the investors,” he stated.

At the Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP), General Manager of the facility, Betty Brown Nyadu, stated that over 60% of wastes segregated at the 400 tonne facility is organic in nature.

The wastes segregated at the facility are recycled for conversion into by-products for other productions such as organic fertilizer, plastic pellets, among others.