Tema, May 1, GNA – Coliba Recycling Services a leading Ghanaian Plastic Waste Recycling Company, committed to environmental protection has joined forces with Engen Ghana Limited to roll-out a plastic waste recycling project.
The project involves strategically installing high-capacity, high-impact recycling bins at all of Engen Ghana’s 42 Filling Stations across the country which will serve as collection points for people to conveniently drop off their plastics and receive some incentives.
Speaking at the launch of the Engen-Coliba Waste Recycling Project at Pokuase, near Accra Mr. Brent Nartey, Engen Ghana Managing Director said it was based on the company’s commitment to ensure continual improvement in Health, Safety, Environment, and Quality management and protection of the environment leveraging on technology.
He said Engen Ghana which deals in other petroleum downstream-related activities considered the importance of plastics, as well as the challenges resulting from its misuse, cannot be overemphasized, adding that “we use plastics every day, and everywhere and dispose of them sometimes indiscriminately.
“As a result, we increasingly litter plastics waste around endangering the environment, polluting water bodies, clogging our drains, and when burnt, release toxic substances that create air pollution, harmful to humans and animals”.
Mr. Nartey encouraged all Ghanaians to be responsible in their waste disposal and be good corporate citizens to help manage and mitigate the growing nuisance of plastic pollution, especially in the cities.
He indicated that recycling was one sustainable solution to curbing plastic waste however, Ghana’s underdeveloped recycling sector coupled with the inability of the traditional waste collection services to provide sufficient recycling services due to financial constraints had been a major hurdle.
Mr. Nartey mentioned that it was against that backdrop that the collaborative efforts of Engen and Coliba were offering a solution to the growing problem of plastic waste pollution in the cities.
Mr. Prince Kwame Agbata, Chief Executive Officer of Coliba Recycling Services, explained that the collaboration between Engen Ghana and Coliba which gave birth to the recycling project was because plastic waste could be collected in a more cost effective and easier way instead of going from house to house.
He said plastic did not really weigh much and so they were leveraging on the support of Engen Ghana.
He said the project was to bring recycling services closer to the people in the community and that is the motivation.
He added that the nature of the partnership was such that “Engen Ghana allows Coliba to use the stations as the collection points and fund the development of the bins and provide fuel to ensure consistent collection of the plastics at the various points.
Coliba on the other hand will also be responsible for consistently picking up the plastics, ensuring that segregation is properly done and that the plastics are recycled using the right standards.
The programme was attended by Madam Sally Biney, the Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Greater Accra West Region; Nii Otto Kwame V, Chief of Pokuase; and Mr. Ebow Botwe, Representative from the Plastic Manufacturers Association, among others.
By Angela Ayimbire, GNA
