The University of Ghana Plastic Recycling Project team took action at Labadi Beach in Accra on 25th November 2023, engaging in a purposeful plastic waste collection activity. With the shared objective of promoting effective waste management, the collaborative efforts between the University of Ghana Plastic Recycling Project and Voltic Gh Limited, the primary organizers of the cleanup event, successfully cleared Labadi Beach of plastic waste, including water bottles and disposable cups.
In an exclusive interview with Univers News, Public Affairs Communication and Sustainability Manager at Voltic GH Limited, Worlasi Seddoh shed light on the company’s motives behind undertaking this impactful cleanup initiative. According to Worlasi, Voltic is committed to ensuring that the environment is properly taken care of.
“With the belief in the need to protect ocean life, we have a special interest in cleaning the beaches so that we can recover the post-consumer plastic that ends up in the ocean and then these can be recycled and reused as well. ”
“We do work with aggregators and recyclers to see that once we are done collecting and bagging the plastic, the recycling van would be upfront to collect it and then onward transportation to the recycling plant,” Mr. Seddoh added.
Team lead of the UG chapter of the project, Julius-Jayson Botchway specified the objective of the team; he added that the project was not restricted to the student body but also included staff, churches and other organizations on the University of Ghana campus.
“What the project seeks to do is to instill a culture of self-segregation, sustainable consumption and proper waste management into the university community. On the university campus, we have segregation bins at the residential level so some of the student hostels have these orange and blue baskets for separation of plastic waste. When you go to the academic areas, we have metallic dust bins that are used for the segregation of waste. Also with the churches on campus, we have a system where members of the congregation bring their plastics to church on the first Sunday of every month for recycling.”
“When you are into this sustainability space, you get to collaborate a lot with other people in this space. So occasionally we collaborate with Voltic and then we come up with these initiatives to rid the beach of plastic waste,” he added.
Students who took part in the exercise happily shared their experiences at the cleanup event and their expectations.
“The plastic waste collection exercise was an opportunity for me to socialize while volunteering for a recycling project.”
“I hope that we reach a time where Ghana’s beach has zero plastic waste.”
Driven by the commitment to recycle and mitigate the impact of plastic waste on the environment, the Project consistently seeks to spearhead and collaborate in transformative initiatives for a safer and healthier environment.
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Story by: Mawuena Abena Dossah | univers.ug.edu.gh
