ZOOMLION Kickstart Waste Source Separation & Composting Project

Zoomlion, the waste management conglomerate, has introduced a waste source separation and composting project at Ayuom, a community in the Ashanti Region as part of the company�s innovative approach in riding the country of filth. The project is a knowledge transfer partnership between Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the Chemical Engineering Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to help develop source sorting of solid waste and also establish decentralized compost plants. The project seeks to acquire and implement a technology which will determine the fraction of waste that can be used for composting, design a system to handle the organic fraction of waste by highlighting other waste components and their generation rate, determine the marketability and profitability of compost and waste plastics and lastly obtain data that will provide basis for planning and decision making by relevant authorities. Dr. Moses Mensah and Mr. Israel Boakye Achaempong who are representatives of KNUST and Zoomlion respectively, in an exclusive interview indicated their readiness to see to the completion of the project and also replicate such ventures in other parts of the country. The two organizations have put in place an integrated solid Waste Management system that will help in recovery, reuse and recycling of waste in order to increase the life span of the few landfill sites available. The project primarily will encourage waste separation into organic and inorganic at source from households, communities, and markets, into organic waste and composting stage after which the rest of the waste will be carted to the landfill. This will help reduce pressure on the lands to be used as disposal sites. The Chemical Engineering Department of KNUST will serve as the knowledge hub which will be tapped to develop the project. The project is expected to be a source of job creation for the people of Ayuom and its environs since it will involve the people at all stages such as collection, sorting, piling (water, organic waste, and residue) to compost, maturing, screening, bagging and marketing.