Ecobank invests US$10 million into 1 million waste bins project

Ecobank Ghana today doled out US$q10 million to Universal Plastic Products and Recycling (UPPR) and the Environment Service Providers Association (ESPA) to implement that ‘One Million Waste-Bins Project’ aimed at supplying one million waste bins to households and businesses in all cities and communities across the country to reduce indiscriminate littering and promote good health. 

As part of the project, Ecobank has also created a special short code through which homes and businesses who register and benefit from this bins, would be able to pay for waste management electronically, either via the Ecobank Mobile App or Mobile Money.

At the launch of the project, Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Dan Sackey said “Ecobank is environmentally conscious and as an accredited Green Climate Fund entity, has entered into this collaboration to ensure that we are able to help create mass awareness about environmental cleanliness among the Ghanaian populace.”

He said it is Ecobank’s aid to encourage the wide use of waste bins in every home and business in Ghana and actively promote recycling of waste, adding that it was in that regard the bank has committed USD10 million as a credit facility to support the production of the waste bins.

“We are doing this to support the first phase of the one million waste bins project, which we believe will go a long way to promote environmental best practices, good health and general wellbeing.

Dan Sackey said Ecobank is at the same time relying on this partnership to provide a variety of payment solutions to the numerous patrons of waste management service providers and to propel Ghana towards the much-desired cash lite economy status.     

Executive Secretary of the ESPA, Ama Ofori Antwi, on her part said; “The absence of waste bins in our various households, workplaces, lorry parks and other public places has been the major reason for indiscriminate littering in our communities, which poses a lot of risk to lives and properties in the country.”

She said ESPA, UPPR and Ecobank are therefore embarking on this project with the sole aim of addressing this situation and keeping the environment clean, adding that this is a nationwide social intervention project aimed at helping improve the lives of people by correcting poor sanitation practices and improving solid waste collection service delivery in Ghana. 

Ms. Ofori Antwi also intimated that the project is expected to further promote existing sanitation initiatives by the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and also create over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in Ghana.

This, she said, will be a significant contribution towards helping to curb unemployment in Ghana.   

Launching the project, the Honourable Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources and Member of Parliament for Krachi East, Michael Djato said his Ministry is totally committed to working with both public and private sector participants to rid the country of filth.

He emphasized that the issue of sanitation was key on government’s agenda and his Ministry was ever ready to support initiatives such as the 1million Waste Bin Project.

The Deputy Minister commended Ecobank, UPPR and ESPA for their collaboration to support the fight against insanitary practices in the country. He urged Ghanaians to take the sanitation issue seriously, as it has great impact on education and health, both of which are key to nation building.

Chief Executive of Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mohammed Adjei said waste management has been a daunting task for all local government institutions and he believes this one million bins projects has come as a major relief from that headache.

He therefore urged all Ghanaians to rush and register for the bins and ensure to pay for the waste collect to propel the capital city towards realizing the cleanest city target.

The special waste bins, which are being produced by UPPR Ghana Limited, are fitted with Radio Frequency Identity (RFID) tags that enables the Waste Management Companies closely monitor and effectively oversee the operations of their workers on the field, as they are able to track how often waste-bins are emptied.

This singular feature of the new bins will eliminate the current situation where waste bins overspill and cause contamination with a profound effect on the environmental ecosystem. 

To ensure the success of the project, uniformed officials of the waste management companies, with ID cards, will move into the communities for the purposes of registration and distribution of waste bins to homes, offices, schools, hospitals, places of worship among others. 

Meanwhile, Ecobank is also deploying its digital solutions to enable clients of waste management companies, pay their monthly collections service fees with greater convenience.

The bank is further enabling ESPA members who use its electronic collection tools to also pay their service providers more efficiently using Ecobank OMNI.

The key tools for this project include; Ecobank Mobile for collections, Ecobank Omni for vendor payments and a dedicated USSD channel (*887*87#) that accepts mobile money payments from all mobile money operators in Ghana.

Payments can also be done in all 67 branches of Ecobank and over 2,000 Ecobank Xpress Points across the country.