The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has launched “Keep Kumasi Clean; Let’s Recycle,” under the Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development (HORESD) project.
The Mayor of Kumasi, Mr Samuel Pyne, said managing waste through recycling would not only keep the city clean but also create sustainable jobs for the citizens.
He said the technical working group and the territorial management group which were formed to draw a road map for the successful implementation of the HORESD project had yielded results, especially in the area of waste segregation.
Mr Pyne also noted that the project has facilitated a community buy-back programme to enable aggregators to purchase recyclable materials from the waste pickers.
He said the project would keep the city clean and also support the livelihoods of the marginalised waste pickers.
The Metro Coordinating Director, Mr Francis Dwira Darko, said the Assembly had invested three-quarters of its Internally Generated Funds (IGF) into waste management but the city was still plagued with filth due to indiscriminate disposal of solid waste.
He therefore thanked the Mancomunitat de la Ribera Alta (MANRA), and the City of Praia (CMP), whose commitment, he said had made it possible for the KMA to secure funding from the European Union (EU) under the HORESD project.
On his part, the Head of Cooperation of the European Union delegation to Ghana, Mr Massimo Mina, said it is estimated that 100 tons of waste is generated daily but only 10 per cent of it is recycled.
He was therefore excited the project had made it possible for waste to be recycled and reused.
The launch also witnessed the outdooring of eight refuse collection trucks and 1000 waste containers of varied sizes, ranging from 120 to 1000 litres.
Bala Ali & Henrietta A.K. Aboagye, ISD