CHF inaugurates three projects to improve sanitation in Avenor

The CHF International, a non-governmental organisation has inaugurated three projects to help ensure good environmental sanitation in the community of Avenor in Accra.

The 31,000 dollar facilities include a compost technology centre, Trashy (plastic fashion accessory centre) and buyback centre.

The intention of the project is to ensure that food waste from households and restaurants would be received by the compost technology centre which would process them into organic fertilizers to be used for plant production.

The buyback centre would also purchase the plastic sachet waste from the public and in turn sell it to the recycling factories while the plastic fashion accessory centre would use the recycled products of sachet plastic waste to produce plastic materials such as bags, wallets, pen and pencil holders, sandals, hats, rain jackets and dustbins.

Mr Alberto Wilde, CHF Country Director in Ghana, inaugurating the projects said it was possible for community members to be active change-agents under the right engagement strategy to promote their mutual benefits.

He said compost materials which are fully decayed plant residues could be used to replenish marginal and infertile lands and they are known to have superior health benefits over those from chemical based ones.

Mr Wilde expressed gratitude to the Okaikoi South Sub-Metro Assembly for recruiting dedicated youth who underwent a period of training and have graduated to become entrepreneurs to assist in the running of the facilities.

He said about 3,000 youth have so far benefitted directly from the Youth Engagements in Service (YES) Delivery package that addresses all the key constraints of the unemployed youth seeking employment.

“It is our hope,” he said, “that our committed youth will take up the challenge of owning and running these facilities as life improving businesses”.

The CHF Director urged the youth to build on the foundation laid by the YES project, work hard and expand the coverage of their market adding that “this is important because, growth in their businesses would translate into increasing the recovery of waste from the stream within Avenor community.”

Mr Mahmoud Haruna, Assemblyman for Avenor Electoral Area, appealed to the residents to lend their support to the youth by properly disposing off their domestic waste and ensuring that plastic materials are separated from the solid waste.

He said it was important they also patronised the door-to-door waste collection services instituted by the organisation.