General News of Tuesday, 8 January 2019

Source: 3news.com

ESPA to deploy new technology to achieve president’s vision to rid Accra of filth

Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong,  President of ESPA Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, President of ESPA

The Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) is set to deploy technological innovations among others to help effectively eradicate filth and make Accra the cleanest city in the sub-region.

The technological innovation which is an application software will afford the general public the opportunity to arrest waste by taking a picture of any waste at public places unto their phones using the “app” for onward alert and collection.

The President of ESPA, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong who revealed this at the Association’s annual end-of year get-together indicated that ESPA which include over 5,000 tricycle operators nationwide are ready as a rapid response team to collect the waste anytime they receive the alert on their mobile phones.

Dr. Agyepong also announced that additional fleet of 1,000 tricycles and 500 compaction trucks are ready to be used as back-ups to augment the effective collection of the waste that will hit the application software.

“The Association will also reward best performing tricycle waste collectors with various cash prizes who work with diligence and apply the various guidelines guiding the tricycle operations”, he added.

The Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr. Michael Gyato who was also the special guest at the occasion indicated that the district assemblies must enforce the sanitation bye-laws to ensure that sanitary offenders are punished.

He said the Ministry will also deploy digital systems to monitor the operations of the tricycle operators to ensure they adhere to the guidelines governing their operations to ensure that all stakeholders perform to achieve the president vision of making Accra the cleanest city in the sub-region.

The Environmental Services Providers Association is an umbrella body of private waste companies handling waste of various categories within the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) which also include private tricycle waste collectors.

The new theme for the association in 2019 is “Pick it up”, a commitment towards ensuring that every waste is collected and processed.