With a 5% recycling rate, Ghana has emerged as a regional front runner committed to creating a domestic recycling industry that protects both the environment and an impoverished, mostly-female, community of waste pickers.
Waste picking is a means of survival for poor, urban communities across Africa, South-East Asia and Latin America. In Ghana, they recover at least 218 tons daily or nearly 12% of the total plastic waste generated.
This is Zane Sustainable Ltd., an innovative start up with a focus on collecting & recycling plastic, in particular single-use PET in Ghana, where 3,000 tons of plastic is discarded every day. Their mission is to rid the streets, beaches and coastal parts of Ghana from reusable plastic materials. They are giving visibility to this ‘informal economy’ of waste pickers and connecting them to the formal economy, so people have better lives and receive a fair wage.
Sustainable Ltd. aims to employ a larger workforce and educate locals about the importance of sustainability in the region. Their support means more jobs, more products of value for the local community and less pollution.