In order to reduce the quantum of waste in the country, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, in collaboration with Ecobank, has begun the distribution of one million waste bins across the country.
The project, which was launched a few days ago, is to provide each household and institution receptacles to ensure waste-free communities.
The General Manager of Zoomlion, Accra Zone, Ernest Morgan Acquah, hinted that the one-million household waste bin project was their topmost priority.
“We have had several clean-up exercises, several campaigns to reduce waste in our systems, but still we realised that we have wastes that are not collected.
“So Zoomlion with our Executive Chairman sat down with our research team and we realised that the problem of waste in Ghana is not only about clean-up exercises but the problem is that households and institutions don’t have anything to hold their wastes and when we talk about the cycle waste management, the most important aspect is for individuals to have receptacles to hold their wastes. In the local government bylaws it is in it for every household to have a bin,” he said.
“So the executive Chairman of Zoomlion and its agencies brought the idea that let’s partner with Ecobank for us to help individuals to get at least this year have one million bins in the country,” the General Manager of Zoomlion, Accra Zone, added.
He added that the project when completed would help reduce the level of wastes in the country.
“We are starting in Accra here and we have about five Metropolitan and Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs) but at the end of the day we want to see the whole country, every household getting a bin to hold its waste. It will go a long way in reducing the sickness and the spectacle of waste on the stretch of our roads,” he said.
Mr Acquah disclosed that measures and IT systems have been outlined to ensure wastes are properly disposed of.
“We have the RFID systems attached to the bins and we are monitoring it electronically, so when a bin is full it is even detected from the office. So we have other bodies that are regulating it. Aside from that, we have made so many operations to help in picking up the source to the final disposal site,” he said.
He, however, encouraged households and beneficiaries of the bin to do prompt monthly payments electronically via *887*87#.
Residents at Ablekuma South, Ablekuma West, Ablekuma Central, Krowor, and Okaikwe North were among the five MMDA’s to benefit from day one of the waste bin distribution projects.
In an interaction with some residents in the Ablekuma West constituency, they expressed their profound gratitude and also acknowledged the management of Zoomlion for the initiative.
They said: “We are very happy to get our bin and we want to thank Zoomlion for the bins. These bins will go a long way in helping us offload our wastes and also help prevent cholera in our community. We want to encourage all Ghanaians to purchase the bins and use them wisely.”