By Rashid Mbugri, GNA
Tamale, Sept. 13, GNA - Mrs Betty Brown Nyadu, the General Manager of the Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant Limited (IRECOP), said the company would establish a waste recycling facility in the Northern Region to help in waste management.
That, she noted, would help sustain the health and living conditions of residents as well as create avenues for jobs.
Mrs Nyadu made this known on Thursday during a visit to the Gbalahi Landfill Site in the Sagnarigu Municipality by a joint Parliamentary Select Committee to assess the area's waste, environmental and sanitation conditions.
The Committee included Environment, Science and Technology, Local Government and Rural Development, and Works and Housing committees.
IRECOP is an innovative project of Zoomlion Waste Company, established as part of efforts to sustainably manage waste.
The Gbalahi Landfill Site is the only site which receives about 350 metric tonnes of waste each day from both the Tamale Metropolis and the Sagnerigu Municipality. However, the site is poorly managed and poses health threats to residents in surrounding communities.
Mrs Nyadu said the facility, when established, would have the capacity of treating 400 tonnes of waste per day into reusable outputs such as compost for agronomic purposes as well as recovery of plastics and paper to serve the plastic and paper industries respectively.
She said a similar facility had been established in the Greater Accra Region and that the one to be built in the Northern Region had the potential of providing about 80 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs to help address unemployment.
Mr Addo Frimpong Yaw, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manso-Adubia, and Chairman of the Environment, Science and Technology Parliamentary Select Committee, made reference to the recent fire outbreak at the Kpone Landfill Site in Accra and said it was in the interest of the joint committee to inspect and assess the waste management situation and come out with a comprehensive report on how to effectively resource and manage waste in the country.
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, the MP for Odododiodio, who is also a Ranking Member of the Local Government Select Committee, said the issues of waste management and sanitation had gone beyond efforts of local communities and the assemblies, and that the situation now needed the involvement of the Legislature to identify and provide clear cut policies on how the country intended to sustainably manage waste in both the short and long term plans.
Mr Solomon Buar, the North East Regional Minister, who spoke on behalf of the Northern Regional Minister, suggested that stakeholders needed to concentrate on establishing recycling plants as a sustainable way of managing waste and the risks involved.
Mrs Mariama Iddrisu, the Municipal Chief Executive for Sagnarigu, commended the joint committee for making efforts to ascertain the waste management situation in the area and assured them that the Municipality was ready to work together with relevant organisations to resolve its waste management needs.
GNA
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