Valorisation to revolutionise plastic waste management

A new initiative has been launched at Osu in the Korle-Klottey municipality of Greater Accra Region, to tackle the increasing menace of plastic waste in the country.

Dubbed the ‘Valorisation of waste plastics for fuel production (VALOPLASTIQUES)’ project, this innovative initiative aims to address the issue of plastic waste by converting it into high-value fuels and chemicals for households, outboard motors and small engines.

This is against a backdrop that the production and disposal of waste single-use plastic products like sachets, bottles and polybags contribute significantly to environmental pollution.

According to the Director-Institute of Applied Science and Technology and Principal Investigator of the VALOPLASTIQUE Project, Prof. David Dodoo-Arhin, this is because most plastics take several hundreds of years to break down when disposed of.

As a result, he said, they present varying degrees of environmental impact – including trapping and choking marine organisms and associated socio-economic and public health impacts.

He said: “Over 8 million tonnes of plastic waste leaks into the oceans each year. This growing threat posed by plastic pollution is being felt all around the world.

“Approximately 9.5 percent of the over one million tonnes of annual plastics waste generation in Ghana are collected for recycling. The rest ends up in landfills, sea, land or is burned. Recycling, reusing, incineration and energy-recovery have been identified as the main techniques of downstream plastic waste management.”

However, he noted that the sustainability implications of plastic waste management and valorisation systems in addressing the menace are yet to be fully understood.

Prof. Dodoo-Arhin recognised that with the exponential growth in industries and population, energy demand – which is mostly petroleum fuel-based – has likewise increased.

But coupled with the usual experience of increasing trends in the world price of crude oil, he said the resultant search for alternate energy resources can be mitigated by the recycling and conversion of infinitely growing plastic waste into energy to diversify the energy resource.

He stated that government through the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) has formed the Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership to support public and private sector transition to a plastic circular economy; thereby ensuring sustainable plastics management.

The VALOPLASTIQUE Project is a joint initiative of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Embassy of France, University of Ghana’s Institute of Applied Science and Technology, the Member of Parliament for Korle-Klottey, KNUST and the Korle-Klottey Municipal Assembly.

The project represents a compelling intersection of environmental sustainability, economic growth and skill development.

The initiative’s focal point is implementing pyrolysis technology for recycling plastic waste, fostering a circular economy for green plastics in the country. This not only addresses the urgent issue of single-use plastic waste but also tackles the pervasive problem of marine plastic litter.

Prof. Dodoo-Arhin explained that the project’s overarching goal is not only waste reduction but also the creation of vocational training and entrepreneurship opportunities for unemployed youth. The project’s technology transfer and skill development training are poised to equip local workforces with the expertise needed for sustainable plastic waste management.

The pilot scheme within the Osu fishing community, he said, is poised to serve as a tangible model for integrating waste plastic valorisation into everyday life.

By doing so, he indicated that VALOPLASTIQUES aims to make a substantial contribution to Ghana’s green plastics circular economy and reduce the menace of single-use plastic waste and marine plastic litter.

The project’s emphasis on hands-on training, he noted, reflects its commitment to creating a tangible impact on the ground, providing valuable insights into the potential of plastic waste valorisation in fostering both economic growth and environmental conservation.

He said to solve the problem sustainably in a circular economy framework, the Quadruplex innovation helix model is crucial. It deals with the interactions between University-Industry-Government-Public-Environment within a knowledge economy.

To this end, he indicated that the Institute of Applied Science and Technology has been working toward this goal since 2012, serving as a platform for transferring knowledge and innovation development with partners to promote the application of technology in solving academic and industrial problems.

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