Legislators from ECOWAS Parliament’s joint committees visited the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP) on July 30 to learn about Ghana’s sustainable waste management practices. The MPs, attending a four-day meeting in Winneba, observed the processing of Solid and Plastics waste, at West Africa’s first advanced waste sorting and composting facility with a 600 metric ton daily capacity. The plant converts urban waste into reusable products like organic fertilizer, plastic pellets, and recyclable materials for local and international markets.
ACARP’s Managing Director, Mr. Michael Padi Tuwor, explained that not all of Accra’s waste is processed at the plant, with some still sent to landfills. He noted that unsorted waste requires separation and recovery of valuable materials. Textiles, making up 7-11% of the waste, are currently not usable but are stored for potential energy use.
Mr. Michael Padi Tuwor also mentioned ongoing efforts to build similar plants across Ghana’s 16 regions. ECOWAS Committee Chairman Mamadou Sako praised the visit, hoping to adopt Ghana’s practices in other member states.
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have expressed satisfaction with the operations of the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP), a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies.
According to the members, ACARP operates under environmentally friendly conditions, which is commendable. Engr. Mahmoud Kunle Adegbite, Permanent Secretary of the Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources in Lagos, spoke to the media after touring ACARP, praising its environmentally friendly facilities.
“We have seen the solid and liquid waste treatment facilities, and we believe they are environmentally friendly,” Adegbite said. “We are looking to upgrade the Lagos module in line with the Jospong Group.”
Hon. Aro Moshood Abiodun, Chairman for the Committee on Public Private Partnership, added, “We are very happy with what we have seen, and we will brief the rest of the members of the House of Assembly and the Lagos State Governor of our findings when we go back.”
The parliamentarians, on a two-day fact-finding mission to ascertain the capability, viability, and sustainability of establishing a similar recycling and composting plant in Lagos, will also visit other facilities tomorrow.
The visit aims to enable the delegation to familiarize themselves with and understand the business model in Ghana to facilitate the implementation of the Lagos project. ACARP is an integrated waste processing and recycling company established to receive and process solid waste and produce organic manure for agronomic purposes in Ghana and the West African Sub-Region.
The plant addresses the problem of plastic waste through sorting, processing, and recycling. Other recovered materials such as textiles, packaging materials, and other highly combustible materials are used to manufacture high-calorific burning material/fuels (refuse-derived fuels) for specific industries requiring such energy for their operations.
The subsidiaries visited by the delegation include the Zoomlion Transfer Stations, Pantang, Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP), J.A. Plant Pool Ghana Limited, and the Sewerage Systems Ghana Ltd.
The MD of Accra Compost and Recycling Plant was among about 70 CEOs awarded for their outstanding contributions at the 2023 Ghana CEO Vision Awards held in Accra. Mr. Michael Padi Tuwor, CEO of Accra Compost and Recycling Plant, was awarded CEO of the Year-Sanitation 2023.
The Ghana CEO Vision Awards, in its second year, recognizes influential and accomplished CEOs who have made a lasting impact through innovative leadership. The theme of the event was “The Role of Business Leadership Towards Achieving the SDGs in Ghana.”
H.E. Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia highlighted the crucial role of the private sector in sustainable development and achieving the SDGs. He emphasized the importance of a supportive public sector that fosters macroeconomic stability, unique identification systems, and financial inclusion initiatives.
Mr. Latif Abubakar, founder of the award scheme, called it the ultimate platform to celebrate visionaries who have turned ideas into reality against all odds. Ms. Sophia Kujordzi, representing the awardees, expressed gratitude to all stakeholders for their support in ensuring the Jospong Group’s continued leadership in various sectors.
The event was attended by dignitaries including H.E. Charles Abani, United Nations Resident Coordinator, and representatives from the diplomatic corps, government, and business community.
The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) is seeking stronger partnerships with the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC) and other environmental actors to deal with the plastic waste menace in the country.
Through the partnership, the ministry seeks to intensify education to champion a generational change in ways plastics are used and disposed of.
Working visit
As part of the move to deepen the collaboration between MESTI and JGC, a delegation from the ministry, led by the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, last Wednesday, paid a working visit to the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP) at Adjen Kotoku in the Greater Accra Region.
The minister engaged with the Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies, Joseph Siaw Agyepong, and other officials of the ACARP to help address challenges associated with plastic pollution.
Dr Afriyie was briefed on how the ACARP processed solid and liquid waste and produced organic manure for agronomic purposes in Ghana and the West African sub-region.
The plant also addresses the problem of plastic waste through sorting, processing and recycling of such waste.
Responsible plastic usage
Dr Afriyie said the working visit offered an opportunity to be updated with both progress and challenges associated with plastic production.
“Plastic is littered everywhere in Ghana from Accra to Tamale and so we will need the help of JGC and other actors to intensify education on the consequences of plastic waste on the environment.
“We want private sector actors such as JGC to be at the forefront of the movement of bringing awareness and inciting change for responsible plastic usage and disposal through educational initiatives,” he said.
He said the ministry was dedicated to work with all relevant stakeholders against the adversities of plastic pollution in the country.
JGC pledges
Mr Agyepong pledged the support of the JGC to help deal with plastic menace especially the under 20 microns
“Whatever the issues may be Ghanaians are capable of developing solutions to address the challenges of plastics. We are ready to collaborate with MESTI to develop solutions that can deal with the issue of plastic waste,” he said.
He stated that the JGC was replicating 16 of the ACARP across the country and by the end of the year all of them would be in operation.
He added that the JGC saw the visit of the minister as a good gesture and a sign of motivation to the private sector.
Integrated waste processing
The Managing Director (MD) of ACARP, Mr Michael Padi Tuwor, stated that ACARP was an integrated waste processing and recycling firm that produced high quality pelletized plastics as raw materials to feed local industries for further production into various plastic items.
He said the plant received and recovered materials such as textiles, packaging materials and other highly combustible materials used to manufacture high calorific burning material.
“We also provide knowledge sharing, technical and scientific expertise in the field of integrated waste management through training and research in the provision of effective waste processing and recycling,” he said.
The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) is impressed with operations at both the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP) and the Mudor Faecal Treatment Plant, formerly Lavender Hill, all in the Greater Accra Region.
The sector Minister, Honourable Dan Kwaku Botwe, made the observation after a site tour of the two facilities owned by subsidiaries of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC) on Friday, April 1, 2022.
He was accompanied by chief directors of his ministry. And based on that satisfaction, the minister indicated that his technical team will follow-up with another visit.
According to him, all these were being done to ensure that Ghanaians have value for money.
“…so that when they [JGC] bring their management service agreement, we will, on behalf of the Government of Ghana, make sure that the people of Ghana have value for money,” he assured.
The tour follows a similar one Mr. Botwe made last week at the Kumasi Compost and Recycling Plant (KCARP) at Adagya in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, also owned by JGC.
The Accra tour afforded the minister the chance to observe first-hand the operations of the two state-of-the-art waste management plants. It also formed part of the MLGDRD’s monitoring role of ensuring that JGC was keeping to the terms of the management service agreement signed between the government and JGC.
He said since 2012, the Government of Ghana has had a management service agreements with JGC’s compost and recycling plants in Kumasi and Accra.
“…we have seen that they have improved upon what they are doing. We have all seen a new plant installed at ACARP. And the issue is that once they go by the tonnage, what they process and what is in the management service agreement, they review it as and when there is an increase in their capacity,” he explained.
Mr. Botwe used the opportunity to also call on the assemblies to be effective in the management of waste.
He noted that though it was appropriate to sanction sanitation offenders, he added that it was also crucial for the bye-laws to be made easier for people to obey.
Continuing, Hon. Botwe appealed for more transfer stations, particularly in Accra. Such a move, he said, will not only cut down the turnaround time for those using tricycles to collect and dump waste, but more importantly deter them from dumping waste along the roadside, especially in the night.
At the Mudor Faecal Treatment Plant, which was the minister’s first port of call, the Head of Process Engineering, Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited (SSGL), Ing. Eric Amofa Sarkodie, made a passionate appeal to residents in Accra to ensure that their sceptic tanks are free from solid materials.
“At the faecal plant, are operations are on faecal sludge, but most often when the tanks come to dislodge the faecal sludge we find solid materials including pads, woods, old shoes and even aborted babies,” he bemoaned.
This development, he disclosed, was costing his company some GHC25,000 to waste management companies to collect these solid materials to the landfill sites, adding that the practice was helping them in anyway.
Ing. Amofa Sarkodie later conducted the minister and his team around the faecal treatment plant.
The General Manager of ACARP, Mr. Michael Padi Tuwor thanked Hon. Botwe and his team for visiting led the minister to familiarize himself with their operations.
The sanitation and water resources minister, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah has paid a working visit to the Accra compost and recycling plant, a subsidiary of the Jospong group of companies here in Accra to access the ongoing work at the facility.
Minister after touring the facility indicated her satisfaction with operations at the facility and added that her government was ready to support any other private company willing to venture into waste management.
Adding that government is fully ready in supporting and expanding green energy sector of the country and encourage the public to cultivate the habit of waste separation in the homes.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has expressed satisfaction with the operations of the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant, at Adjen Kotoku, explaining that the Plant is helping in bringing to bear an efficient, modern model of sanitation disposal.
At a visit to the Plant, on Friday, 10th November, 2017, President Akufo-Addo noted that “what we are witnessing here is the modern way of providing service, the collaboration between the State and private sector to deliver public goods. And, in this case, the most important in any city is sanitation.”
With Greater Accra’s population estimated at between 5 million and 7 million people, the President noted that “if we do not have an efficient, modern way of dealing with waste disposal, then we will have a city that will have major troubles with hygiene and an egress of cleanliness.”
The Plant, the President added “is an eye opener for me. It is about what is possible, about what collaboration can do, and what is possible, with encouragement and proper policy framework, if we have confidence in Ghanaian entrepreneurs.
“Ghanaian entrepreneurs have to be at the forefront of the social and economic transformation of the country. This sort of facility, seeing it work in detail, is extremely encouraging.”
Particularly, the President was excited “about the idea that out of here too, it is making an important contribution to our balance of payments, by being able to export products out of here to neighbouring countries and afar. If you put all of these things together, we are seeing the best kind of collaboration between the State and the private sector.”
To Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, operators of the Plant, the President stated that “more grease to your elbow, and the contribution you are making to our social life is inestimable. We have to encourage you.”
He continued, “When you are at the forefront of doing things, like you are, you will be the subject of controversy, it goes with the territory. I know you a little bit, and I know you are capable of handling it. Stay focussed.”
On his part, Dr. Siaw Agyepong told the President that the company has invested some US$98 million in three different waste processing facilities across the country, employing some 700 permanent workers.
“Your presence here, Mr. President, reminds us of your commitment to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources is a first step in that commitment. We see this as a smart and achievable vision, and we are happy to make this reality,” he added.
The Plant, Dr. Siaw Agyepong said, has a designed capacity to process 600 tons of waste per day.
The Compost and Recycling Plant is an integrated waste processing and recycling company, established to receive, sort, process and recycle solid and liquid waste to produce organic compost for agronomic purposes in Ghana and in West Africa.
President Akufo-Addo also visited Zoompak Ghana Limited at Achimota, which specialises in the construction and management of waste transfer stations, collection and management of healthcare waste, amongst others.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commissioned Phase II of the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP), executed by the Jospong Group and Partners.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Thursday, 21 st October 2021, President Akufo-Addo stated that as a result of increased urbanisation, particularly in the country’s major cities, the capacity of the current 600-ton plant cannot cope with the increased solid waste generated daily within the city of Accra.
“It is for this reason that Jospong Group and Partners, with support from Government, embarked on expanding the existing facility from six hundred (600) tonnes per day to two thousand (2,000) tonnes per day,” the President said.
Phase II of the plant is well-equipped with modern teaching and learning facilities, as well as ultra-modern laboratories for training and research into modern effective processing and recycling technologies.
The completion of this facility, according to the President, will bring immense benefits to manage effectively and efficiently the increased solid waste in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.
Historically, the disposal of solid waste has remained a challenge, especially in the urban areas in this country, creating the numerous sanitation challenges confronting the country.
Elsewhere, integrated waste management has been adopted as one critical intervention in the management of municipal solid waste.
However, the President noted that the establishment of an efficient integrated waste management facility requires huge financial outlay, and, with the competing needs of other sectors of the economy on the government budget, it is becoming increasingly difficult for government alone to shoulder this responsibility.
“It is for this reason that, on the assumption of office, my government made a commitment to address this menace to transform Ghana to be one of the cleanest countries in Africa. In this regard, the government has taken the requisite steps to create the enabling environment and framework for the private sector to partner with government in finding lasting solutions to this herculean challenge,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo continued, “It is important also to note that, as a result of the huge capital requirement to establish infrastructure for the management of solid waste, most private sector players have been reluctant to enter into this space. I am glad and fortunate that Jospong Group and Partners have entered this space to partner government to assist us in addressing the sanitation situation.”
Other benefits to be derived from the facility, the President said, include the production of organic compost for horticultural and agronomical purposes to boost agricultural production and the Programme for Planting for Foods and Jobs.
Additionally, the plant, he indicated, would create job opportunities for some three hundred (300) persons in various capacities on full and part-time basis, which is one of the key priorities of the government, and will translate into an improved standard of living for these workers and their families.
As co-Chair of the Group of Eminent Advocates for the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, President Akufo-Addo noted that “it is heartwarming to note that the execution of this project will help realise some of the targets under SDG 6, which demands that we provide clean water and sanitation for all”.
He reassured that government will continue to create the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive, and will continue to collaborate with the private sector in the provision of infrastructure to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country.
In furtherance of this, the President said that his government is collaborating with Jospong Group of Companies and Partners to implement the Integrated Recycling and Compost Plants in all the sixteen (16) regions of the country, to help address the prevailing sanitation challenges.
President Akufo-Addo revealed also that government, in the future, is considering collaborating further with the private sector to provide sanitation infrastructure for the production of refuse-derived fuel in commercial quantities; medical waste processing; waste to energy facility; industrial waste processing; and e-waste processing.
Management of ACARP commissions a beautiful edifice today as a changing room for its employees to appreciate their hard work over the years, And as a way of saying Ayekoo as we celebrate the JOSPONG employee month.
The changing room has a state of the art washrooms, with water heaters, cubicles to keep their clothes
A gym to exercise after the days’ hard work.
A sitting place/lounge for relaxation with television to refresh the mind.
A state-of-the-art laundry facility to take care of employees working gears, to ease their stress.
Another exciting moment as Accra Compost & Recycling plant swept all the trophies at the JOSPONG Olympic Games hosted at the UPSA’s Asturf, Legon on June 19, 2023.
As part of the JOSPONG Employee Month celebration, the Management of JOSPONG organized an inter-subsidiaries Olympic games to crown the celebration, in attendance were employees from JOSPONG from different subsidiaries.
ACARP participated and placed first in the football match, took the first and the third position in the sack race, and second in the Lime &Spoon race respectively.
The Olympics games were engaging and a good platform for networking, fun-making, and stress management therapy.
Written by John-ITAugust 2, 2024 
