By: Gifty Aboagyewaa Okai
The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology has disbursed an amount of $331,606, which is the first tranche of funding of US$4,350,000 to support Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in sustainable waste management.
10 selected SMEs received the funding during a brief ceremony in Accra. The companies include: Colliba Waste Management – 55,000 USD, Nelplast Eco Ghana Ltd – 60,000 USD, Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant Ltd (IRECOP) – 30,000 USD, Maintenance Sustainability Africa – 30,000 USD, Consortium (Asase) – 40,803 USD, Consortium (Sesa) – 15,000 USD, City Waste Recycling – 20,803 USD, among others.
The ceremony was held in the early hours of Thursday, April 10, 2025, at the ministry’s conference room in Accra under the theme: ”Establishing a Circular Economy Framework for the Plastic Sector in Ghana (CEF – PS) Project”.
UTILIZATION OF FUNDS
The Minister committed to taking keen interest in monitoring how the funds will be utilised.
“I will monitor with the directors to see how the monies are utilised. I don’t need a dollar or cedi from you; you need to use the money for the purpose for which it was intended for,” the sector Minister, Hon. Murtala Mohammed stated.
He further reiterated his commitment to soliciting more funds to sustain the initiative after the piloting, but was quick to stress the elimination of companies who may misappropriate the funds from the list of beneficiaries.
“So please, I don’t need anything from you. If you are not using the money for which it was intended, do not go and ask any big man to call me, because I would insist that they take you out,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the Project Director, Lydia Essuah, said the project is at par with efforts to implement the National Plastic Management Policy, emphasising that the ministry was using funds from the government, donors, and collaborating with the private sector operators in that regard.
The fund is the first tranche of monies for the pilot phase of a five-year project funded by Global Environment Facility.
A successful implementation of this initiative is set to provide about 746 direct jobs and 9,684 indirect jobs.
Agencies responsible for the implementation of the project include: UNIDO, with the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the executing agencies.