Eighty per cent of all the waste generated in Accra and other African cities are organic waste according to a United Nations Report.
The other components of the tonnes of waste include 10 per cent plastic, glass, and metal waste and less than 12 per cent paper waste per day.
However, most of these waste are not properly collected and disposed in a safe and healthy manner making waste management and disposal a deterrent to economic development.
It is with this background that the Life Bridge 68 Foundation (LB68F) in partnership with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the World Bank has launched the sixth edition of Kids against Waste Management, Arts and Craft Competition in Accra under the theme; Trashy Fashion: Fashion With An Impact.
The aim of the competition is to empower school children and the youth to use their creativity to effectively promote good hygiene, effective management of sanitation, and other environmental sustainability issues in the country.
It is also to empower children of schooling age and the youth, especially school dropouts, to use their creativity to promote good sanitation practices, efficient solid waste management, environmental sustainability, wealth creation and cleanliness in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of LB68F, Madam Juliana Arhin, said the participation of children in the competition would challenge them to creatively think of discovering new ways of creating wealth out of trash.
“It is a nationwide project which seeks to solicit the creative thinking minds of children to help sharpen their skills and minds towards a better environment through capacity building, educational symposia, workshops, exhibitions and seminars and national competitions,” she explained.
Also, the project over the years has built the capacity of over 600 children between the ages of 6 to 15 to add value to solid waste materials found in their homes and schools.
Madam Arhin further revealed that since the inception, each region in the country had made use of approximately a quarter tone of waste each year.
“In all, about 12 tones of solid waste materials which would have ended up on the land fill has been recovered and reused by the children,” she added.
Some of the solid waste materials recovered and reused include but not limited to wood, metals, e-waste, plastic wear, rubbers, bottles, papers, cartons and fabrics.
Madam Arhin announced that the LB68F would this year organise 10 regional capacity building and mentoring sessions between the month of August and September and the National Awards to take place in October.
She however called on stakeholders and individual agencies to provide support for the success of the competition.
This, she said, would help to reduce the nationwide waste menace as well as make a meaningful contribution towards economic growth and job creation in the country.
In her address, the Executive Director of Beyond Aid Project, Mrs Jennifer Brock, lauded the foundation for their innovative idea of implementing waste management through children.
She said the accumulation, improper management, treatment and disposal of waste posed a serious threat to environmental quality and public waste in many cities and communities.
These threats, she said, were generated by the lack of awareness regarding the environmental impact of waste and deficient systems for proper waste management and disposal in the country.
She was optimistic that the completion would go a long way to reduce the disposal of waste in the country.
The Deputy Director of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Waste Management Department, Mr Samuel Kpodo, in his remarks said waste could be classified as both useless and useful depending on the individual involved.
He however called on Ghanaians to see the useful aspect of waste products in order to reduce waste as much as possible and also generate revenue out of it.
Present at the launch were some school children who recited poems and sang songs about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling waste.
The other components of the tonnes of waste include 10 per cent plastic, glass, and metal waste and less than 12 per cent paper waste per day.
However, most of these waste are not properly collected and disposed in a safe and healthy manner making waste management and disposal a deterrent to economic development.
It is with this background that the Life Bridge 68 Foundation (LB68F) in partnership with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the World Bank has launched the sixth edition of Kids against Waste Management, Arts and Craft Competition in Accra under the theme; Trashy Fashion: Fashion With An Impact.
The aim of the competition is to empower school children and the youth to use their creativity to effectively promote good hygiene, effective management of sanitation, and other environmental sustainability issues in the country.
It is also to empower children of schooling age and the youth, especially school dropouts, to use their creativity to promote good sanitation practices, efficient solid waste management, environmental sustainability, wealth creation and cleanliness in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of LB68F, Madam Juliana Arhin, said the participation of children in the competition would challenge them to creatively think of discovering new ways of creating wealth out of trash.
“It is a nationwide project which seeks to solicit the creative thinking minds of children to help sharpen their skills and minds towards a better environment through capacity building, educational symposia, workshops, exhibitions and seminars and national competitions,” she explained.
Also, the project over the years has built the capacity of over 600 children between the ages of 6 to 15 to add value to solid waste materials found in their homes and schools.
Madam Arhin further revealed that since the inception, each region in the country had made use of approximately a quarter tone of waste each year.
“In all, about 12 tones of solid waste materials which would have ended up on the land fill has been recovered and reused by the children,” she added.
Some of the solid waste materials recovered and reused include but not limited to wood, metals, e-waste, plastic wear, rubbers, bottles, papers, cartons and fabrics.
Madam Arhin announced that the LB68F would this year organise 10 regional capacity building and mentoring sessions between the month of August and September and the National Awards to take place in October.
She however called on stakeholders and individual agencies to provide support for the success of the competition.
This, she said, would help to reduce the nationwide waste menace as well as make a meaningful contribution towards economic growth and job creation in the country.
In her address, the Executive Director of Beyond Aid Project, Mrs Jennifer Brock, lauded the foundation for their innovative idea of implementing waste management through children.
She said the accumulation, improper management, treatment and disposal of waste posed a serious threat to environmental quality and public waste in many cities and communities.
These threats, she said, were generated by the lack of awareness regarding the environmental impact of waste and deficient systems for proper waste management and disposal in the country.
She was optimistic that the completion would go a long way to reduce the disposal of waste in the country.
The Deputy Director of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Waste Management Department, Mr Samuel Kpodo, in his remarks said waste could be classified as both useless and useful depending on the individual involved.
He however called on Ghanaians to see the useful aspect of waste products in order to reduce waste as much as possible and also generate revenue out of it.
Present at the launch were some school children who recited poems and sang songs about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling waste.
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