The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has launched a competition for waste pickers along the circular economy value chain.
It forms part of the implementation of the Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development (HORESD) project being funded by the European Union over 30 months to build the capacity of the local authorities, and improve service delivery, particularly in the area of waste management.
The project is also expected to strengthen Kumasi’s capacity to provide public services with priority for an integrated management system of urban solid waste.
It would be piloted through the implementation of comprehensive waste management and collection systems, for which four small community composting plants and two small recycling stations, as well as a small plant to generate energy from waste would be established.
Interested persons or groups will pick forms in June and present their business plans and proposals for the sustainability of the project.
The project will offer €3,000 support for individuals and groups of waste pickers, who will undergo training between August and December, after which 20 individuals or groups would be selected for further training and later shortlisted to five to receive financial support in January for their operations.
The City of Kumasi has received a €2.5 million grant from the European Union (EU) for the implementation of the Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development.
Last Friday, the KMA organised an awareness creation for about 400 waste pickers from Adum, Odumase, Manhyia, Buokrom, Duase, Moshie Zongo, Yenyawso, Krofrom East, Apraman and Buokrom Estate, among others.
The Local Project Coordinator, Mr. Joshua Nii Noye Tetteh-Nortey, who is also the Project Officer of the KMA, told the durbar of waste pickers that they would be supplied with equipment like gloves, nose masks, and picking sticks to enable them effectively execute waste segregation at the community level.
He noted that the support would facilitate separation of plastic, papers, glass, metals and food waste for recycling purposes.
Mr. Tetteh-Nortey disclosed that trucks, and about a 1,000 waste containers, had been donated by the project for siting at communal dump sites.
The Mayor of Kumasi, Sam Pyne, stressed the importance of the involvement of waste pickers in the sanitation value chain.
He urged them to do their best to help reduce waste in the system, stressing that the sustainability of the project depended on their active involvement, which would, in the long run, be beneficial to all stakeholders.
The Mayor also urged the public against littering of waste.
Sam Pyne gave the assurance that the KMA would work to forge the required partnership to ensure the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Present at the durbar was the International Co-ordinator of the project, Dr. Helder B.C.J. Moreira.
