My Joy Online News reported last week that the people of Ghana, Africa have become sick and tired of plastic waste and potholes. It is a common feature in the media to read about/hear residents often express the many frustrations to their city authorities that their communities and busy streets have become overrun by plastic waste week after week. Nelson Boateng and Philip Owusu-Gyamfi two Ghanian inventors of their near-four-year-old company “Nelplast” are turning a tiny bit of Ghana’s 1.7 million tons of plastic waste into viable and repaired roads. It all began in 2013 when Boateng was driving in Ashiaman, a sprawling neighborhood close to Tema in the Greater Accra region known for producing rappers and artistes.
Accra alone produces 300 tons of plastic waste a day and only 2% is recycled. The 98% adds to the responsibility of the government and waste management companies, making it very difficult for authorities to keep the city clean! Some landfill sites have had their fill of waste and can no longer accommodate Ghana’s poor waste disposal habits. A large national conversation on the environment was already underway, and a push for Ghana to ban plastics had begun, as Rwanda had already done. Nelson, who had been working in factories since he was 13, found the conversation troubling because a ban would leave many jobless as plastic manufacturing companies would close. He thought, “A ban would be a game changer.” In a remarkable stroke of innovation, the two Ghanaian inventors Boateng and Owusu-Gyamfi have used one problem to solve another—plastic waste recycled into durable concrete bricks used to build entire roads and fill potholes. So, building his factory from the scratch, Nelson designed a recycling and process factory which mixes molten plastics with sand into concrete blocks.
Instead of Ghana walking out on and through plastic [waste], they can actually walk over plastics. His pavement blocks have paved a way to save the plastics industry and also boost the construction sector. It is about giving waste a second chance in Ghana. Nelson told Daniel Dadzie, Host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show that it will take 150 degrees Celsius (C) (302° F) to do damage to the plastic concrete blocks—five times the temperature of the hot days in Ghana (30°C (86°F)).
Currently, the company employs 60 workers and has 500 plastic waste collectors roaming the city early morning and late afternoon finding plastics for Nelplast. He says his collectors are paid at least 50 cedis ($10.78US) per day for a 100 kilos (220.5 lbs.) of plastic waste. Philip Owusu-Gyamfi, Business Development Manager, said the scramble for waste is getting tough in Ghana, telling Joy FM Super Morning Show, “It is difficult to get pure water sachet.” He indicated the company is ready to pay twice sachet water bags, as much as it would pay for any other plastic waste. The company’s products have been tested by the Ghana Highway Authority. For example, the blocks at 40 Newton are almost three times the weight of normal pavement blocks in Ghana, he indicated.
When the municipal authorities were struggling to get the Ghana Highway Authority to fill potholes, the company paved some streets in Ashiaman pro bono (free). The Ministry of Science and Environment’s parking lot was paved with the plastic concrete blocks. Owusu-Gyamfi said the constructions so far have been done pro bono publico—in his opinion, a sense of corporate social responsibility. He is confident that once Ghanaians and the government use the plastic concrete blocks, they will stimulate the market for greater production volumes. The Business Development Manager said the company is looking to grow significantly through investments and larger volumes of raw material supply.
To read article and view video, please go to: https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2018/May-15th/we-can-walk-on-plastic-pavements-instead-of-on-plastics-two-pave-a-new-way.php
For another article about VEEP breaking ground on concrete road in Ghana, please go to: https://www.concretepavements.org/2018/05/01/pilot-concrete-road-to-be-constructed-for-the-tor-tema-steel-works-dvla-in-tema-industrial-area-ghana-africa/
Home photo: Joy FM Super Morning Show
Philip Owusu-Gyamfi (L) & Nelson Boateng (R)