Minister Nominee for Environment, Innovation, Science and Technology, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has said going forward there would be no need for Ghana to have landfill sites, to keep waste which is often burnt, instead of being recycled.
Addressing members of Parliament’s Appointments Committee on how he intends to make use of the country’s excess waste, Dr. Frimpong-Boateng said every form of waste is another raw material to generate energy and other useful things that will benefit the country.
“I don’t think there should be any landfill sites because these things that we call waste are raw material that we need to produce either energy, compost or something else. So we want to come to a point like Sweden, where they want to import waste from other countries so that they can process.
So we have to do away with these landfill sites and its attendant problems.”
Ghana spends several millions of cedis in its attempt to manage waste effectively, but has achieved very little over the years. Several parts of the country are still engulfed in filth, despite the introduction of the National Sanitation Day.
Landfill sites are a source of conflict between city authorities and residents in the communities they are located. Residents of Oblogo, Achimota, and other towns across the country complain about the stench and diseases caused by the landfill sites.
In some places, city authorities have been forced to shut down sites due to protests from residents.
Recycling Waste
Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng also listed a number of waste products from worn-out car tyres, sawdust, dirty oil, and other forms of urban waste, to create a lot of useful things that will benefit the country in saving the environment and generating revenue.
“There are a lot of wastes; I will start with lorry tyres which are everywhere. We will intend to do a recycling to convert them into fuel; we have dirty engine oil which is thrown into gutters.
The oil itself doesn’t change although it is dirty; so the technology will be to remove those additives and impurities and then we can still make money from it and save our environment. We also want to recycle hard plastics which can be used again. We want to do E-waste or electronic waste which is also possible” he noted.
‘About Prof. Frimpong Boateng’
Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng is a trained physician and cardiothoracic surgeon who established the National Cardiothoracic Center and the Ghana Red Cross Society.
He is also the President of the Ghana Heart Foundation and was once the Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
In March 2006, he announced his intention to contest the New Patriotic Party presidential primaries for the December 2008 National Presidential Elections.
He however lost in his attempt against now President-elect, Nana Akuffo-Addo, who had subsequently lost the 2008 elections to the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC), John Evans Atta-Mills. Prof. Frimpong-Boateng is married with five children, and he’s very passionate about science and technology, which remains pivotal to any country’s development.
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