Type: For-Profit
PHASE: Scale
CATEGORY: Environment
LOCATION: Ashiaman, Ghana
TRASHtoCash
Africa

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TRASHtoCash focuses on determining the trend of municipal solid waste generation, collecting and RECYCLING them into USABLE QUALITY PRODUCT and ORGANIC FERTILIZERS and selling them to growing communities

Standings & Awards

316 out of 591 in Africa
87 out of 272 in Environment
88 out of 173 in Scale
285 out of 555 in For-Profit
2078 out of 4003 Overall

2

VOTES
Recycling of waste into products

In Ghana there is a daily increase of the volume of waste generated in each day. The daily accumulation of the waste in the country has resulted in the improper management, treatment and disposal of waste, which has posed environmental problems and health risks to various communities in the country.

In the Greater Accra region of Ghana is Ashiaman which is an unplanned town in the Tema Metropolis. Ashiaman arose as a result of the displacement and relocation of people who were living around the Tema harbour due to its development.

Ashiaman is now a rapidly growing urban centre in the greater Accra region and has a population of 246514 (2011 census Ghana) with a growth rate of 4.5%.

The town is a vibrant commercial centre that attracts goods and people from neighbouring rural and urban areas such as Accra, Tema, Teshie, Nungua, Lashibi etc. because their gods are affordable. This has resulted in the people of the town being involved in commercial trade and farming.

The working class in the town are less educated and low income earners, only do they not understand the need for sorting but cannot afford the services of waste management companies in the town and in Tema, as such there is a result of waste accumulation, improper waste disposal of municipal waste has been a major problem affecting public health, productivity, surface water drainage and air quality in the environment.

 A major result is the 2011 flooding which can partly be attributed to drainage systems chocked by trash.

The town generates 441metric tons of waste on a daily basis of which 265 are collected and disposed by the local government. The remaining 176 metric tons are by either zoomlion waste management services by people who can afford local dispose or open space consumption.

Waste generated consist of 55% organic waste, 15%paper, 7%plastic etc. and these waste are mostly not sorted.

Trashtocash

Trashtocash is a waste recycling and management unit whose aim is to recycle waste generated in Ashiaman into usable quality products to low and high income earners at affordable prices using commercial salesmen as product distribution points. With focus on organic, plastic and cartons; our products will include; organic fertilisers from organic waste, bags and baskets from plastics, urban agriculture mechanisms from plastics, trash bins and mailbags from cartons and plastics, storage bins etc.

FIVE PROJECT QUESTIONS Required (60 - 90 minutes)

1. What is your innovation? 
Our innovation is to give value to trash by coming up with quality product from trash in the Ashiaman community and selling the product to low or high income earners through commercial traders. Organic compost will also be produced and sold farmers as manure . Employment will be created for collectors who will supply the waste materials to feed Trashtocash and people who will be trained to produce and sell our product.
2. Who gains the most? 
The community will be raid of waste produced reducing health risk and improving their environmental quality. The community will benefit from our products and farmers who will buy our organic fertilizers for their farms will experience high yields from the fertilizers they use. The waste collectors will who supply Trashtocash will earn daily wages for their service. Sellers who will sell our products will make profit. Trashtocash will also make profit from their products to ensure its growth
3. Who pays? 
Initial investments and donations to Trashtocash will be used for the needed infrastructure for the organic composting for fertilizers and the products made from the waste. The product and residue waste when sold will generate further income for the for Trashtocash to its industry.
4. What is your success? 
We have a systematic growth of success, first of all the community will have the education on the value for their trash and the need for sorting their trash. Secondly the will be a reduction in health risk and an improvement in the environmental and air quality through the recycling of their waste into usable high quality product. Last but not least, there will employment for people to collect waste, some habitant will be skilled in making product from trash and sell to make a living.
5. How will you do it? 
Trashtocash understands the waste generating, collection and deposited in the Ashiaman community. Achieving our aim will be done by working hand in hand with the households, existing waste collectors and new ones and commercial traders by first educating these groups on the need for sorting and ensuring the continues supply of waste. Trashtocash will focus on recycling the waste into waste and organic fertilisers through training of people for making in our product.

Badges & Awards

2013 DSIC Project Participant
2012 DEC Project Participant

Members

kufyaw_1's picture
Yaw Sarbeng
Kwame Nkrumah' University of Science and Technology, Kumasi