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Initiative to curb indiscriminate littering of waste in communities launched

An initiative that seeks to keep in check the indiscriminate littering of waste in the country was launched in Accra yesterday.

Christened, “One Million Waste Bin Project” (1MB), Universal Plastic Product and Recycling Ghana Limited (UPPR), a subsidiary of Jospong Group of Companies, is expected to supply one million litter bins nationwide.

Other partners in the project are Ecobank Ghana Limited and Environment Services Providers Association (ESPA),

Launching it, a Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Michael Yaw Gyato said the absence of waste bins at vantage points and households within the communities promoted indiscriminate littering, and expressed the hope that the intervention through the 1MB Project would address the situation and keep the environment clean.

He said the government could not do it alone, hence the private sector key in helping government achieve its aim in the area of sanitation.

Mr Gyato acknowledged that, the absence of waste bins in various households and workplaces was the major reason for indiscriminate littering in communities, posing threat to the lives of the citizenry, hence embarking on the project was a sure way to curb the situation.

Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, president of ESPA, said the project would complement the existing sanitation initiatives by Metropolitans, Municipals and District Assemblies (MMDAs), and would also create 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.

He said residents could register and pay a token fee to obtain the waste bins from the service provider or from the MMDAs, adding that the information needed for registration, include name, contact number and house number or digital address.

Dr Agyepong said the waste bins had been fitted with radio frequency identity tags which would enable the waste management companies to monitor the operations of its workers on the field.

To ensure the success of the project, he said uniformed officials of the waste management companies with identification cards would move into the communities to register and distribute the waste bins to homes, offices, schools, hospitals, places of worship, among others.

Mr Dan Sackey, Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, reiterated the bank’s commitment to the environment, stressing that its partnership in the project was to help create a mass awareness about environmental cleanliness and encourage the use of waste bins across the country.

He said proper segregation of waste was equally important to enable easy recycling of both organic and plastic waste generated, adding that Ecobank had committed over US$10 million to support the production of the waste bins.

BY BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY

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