Nine businesses and organisations are to receive financial and technical support for emerging winners in the first edition of the Waste Recovery Innovation Challenge.
Nelplast ECO Ghana Limited, Neat Eco Feeds, West African Feeds, Coliba and Alchemy Alternate Energy were named best for their business projects in the waste recovery value-chain.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana , emerged the best in the research category while Plastic Punch, Environment 360 and A Rocha Ghana emerged best for their advocacy on waste management.
The challenge forms part of the Waste Recovery Platform being facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to connect stakeholders, including research institutions, private sector, government and civil society organisations to promote recycle and re-use of waste for economic empowerment.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Times on the sidelines of the launch of the Ghana National Plastics Action Partnership (GNPAP) in Accra on Tuesday, Paolo Dalla Stella, Programme Specialist, Head of Environment and Climate Cluster, UNDP Ghana, said, the platform was a one-stop shop solutions space connecting all actors in the waste management value chain to promote waste recovery in the context of a larger circular economy.
In addition to the challenge, he stated that the platform also focused on three other areas including digital platform to be equipped with tools such as waste map, mobile application for trading waste connect stakeholders to facilitate waste recovery and a compendium of technologies to facilitate waste discovery.
“The other areas were a convening mechanism that brings together all stakeholders to forge partnerships and a communication dimension that aims at creating awareness for the needed behavioural change to make waste recovery systems effective’’, he added.
Mr Dalla Stella said the initiative would create an online market for recycled products and promote export of valuable waste streams and strengthen connections between the formal and informal sectors in the waste recovery industry.
Managing Director of Nelplast ECO Ghana, Nelson Boateng, noted that the company, which produces pavement blocks from sand and plastic waste, would continue to work with partners to promote waste recovery to protect the environment and maximise the economic potentials for the benefit of the country.
He, however, called for more private sector investment in the various value-chain to scale up waste recovery businesses.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
