The Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE), an industry-led coalition under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) in partnership with SESA Recycling, The Eblah Foundation, and with support from the Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly has organized a Community Plastic Buyback to mark the Global Recycling Day 2021 which was celebrated under the theme, “Recycling Heroes”.
GRIPE has over the years been organizing Community Plastic Buybacks events in Accra and Kumasi. The Community Plastic Buyback event is a concept that is aimed at ensuring that plastics that would have normally ended up in the environment or landfill are recovered and diverted into the recycling value chain and recycled, reused, or put into valuable end-uses. The event also seeks to sensitize residents on the need to segregate waste at source thereby creating awareness on proper disposal of waste particularly plastics. Last but not least, the event seeks to provide residents with the opportunity to gain cash in exchange for their used plastics engraining the fact that it is a resource and not waste
The Global Recycling Day edition of the Community Plastic Buyback event took place at the Lascala Market in Teshie, Accra. The event saw scores of Teshie residents bring quantities of post-consumer plastics to a temporary collection that was set up for the day in exchange for incentives such as cash and other rewards. Through the event, a total of 1,261kg of plastics and 100kg of paper were recovered in 4hours.
GRIPE was duly represented at the event by Mr. Kwame Asamoa Mensa-Yawson, the Project Manager. Also in attendance were representatives from SESA recycling, The Eblah Foundation and The Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly. Speaking at the event, the Municipal Chief Executive for the Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly, lauded the initiative and pledged her support for more of such events in the area to ensure that people are being sensitized and encouraged to adopt sustainable plastic management practices.
Residents were happy that the initiative had come to their community and urged GRIPE and its partners to continue to undertake more of such events.
ABOUT GLOBAL RECYCLING DAY
Global Recycling Day was created in 2018 to help recognize, and celebrate, the role recycling plays in preserving our precious primary resources and securing the future of our planet. It is a day for the world to come together and put the planet first.
The mission of Global Recycling Day, as set out by the Global Recycling Foundation, is two-fold:
- To tell world leaders that recycling is simply too important not to be a global issue and that a common, joined-up approach to recycling is urgently needed.
2. To ask people across the planet to think ‘resource’, not waste, when it comes to the goods around us – until this happens, we simply won’t accord recycled goods the true value and repurpose they deserve.