A 20-million dollar Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP) has been commissioned at the Accra Waste Recovery Park by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of companies.

The Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant, which has an 80% waste recovery rate and has the capacity to handle 800 tons of solid waste on a sixteen (16) hour shift was launched on Friday .

The Plant is designed to additionally process about 200 tons of compost per day. The over 60 tons of compost that would be produced daily per plant would displace over 864,000 bags of chemical fertilizers imported annually into Ghana.

It will also serve as research and training centre for educational institutions. Students will be allowed to use the facility for project work, internship and academic attachments. The facility could also be beneficial for industrial visits and tours.

The plants have the ability to recover waste materials that would have been landfilled and turned into raw materials for industry. This saves the environment from pollution and space needed to site new landfills.

The Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of companies, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong explained that from its inception in 2006, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has always considered waste as a resource that should be harnessed.

He further explained that the non-availability of landfill sites in the country coupled with its high cost of operation, pushed his company to invest in recycling plants to tackle the huge waste problem in the country.

“We commenced with the introduction of the tricycle concept in waste management. Trucks were later brought in to speed up the process of conveying waste to the landfills. By 1991, Government was operating twenty-one (21) landfills. All these landfills have been covered and closed down since the lifespan of a landfill is two (2) years. Most of them were donor funded. Some of the landfills are currently full and causing nuisance to residents in areas where they are located. Associated with the high cost of operation is the problem of low turnaround time as the trucks have to cover long distances in the midst of heavy traffic congestion to reach the landfill sites”

“Another aspect of the problem is that when it rains, the trucks are unable to operate effectively. In the light of this, Zoomlion decided to introduce composting and recycling as part of recovery of resource from waste," Mr Siaw further explained.

He said, “as a Research, Innovation & Development oriented company”, the review of the operational methods of Zoomlion brought to the fore the need for further transformation in their operational methods that had been dependent on the landfill dumping. According to him, this transformational agenda also coincided with the period when Government declared its desire to see Accra as the cleanest city soonest”.

“Mindful that the waste management system, as being operated could not match the speed with which Government was determined to see environmental cleanliness achieved, Zoomlion’s motivation to be part of the rapid waste processing solution was aroused leading us to collaborate with our European technology partners – Komptech Austria. We shared and exchanged ideas about our research findings on the concept of mobile and integrated waste technology that can be quickly installed and be capable of handling the type of mixed waste as we currently have in our communities. The outcome of this technological research partnership is confirmed by the 20 million dollar-Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant project that is about to be commissioned,” Mr Siaw added