Zoompak, a subsidiary of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has opened a new waste transfer station closer to the Achimota Bus Terminal in the Greater Accra Region.
The facility built in collaboration with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) brings to two, the number of such stations opened by the company in the region.
The first of such facility is the Teshie waste Transfer Station.
It is a light industrial transfer station or a holding point where municipal solid waste will be temporarily held prior to its eventual conveyance to the landfill site.
That means the facility will among other things receive solid waste from refuse operators for onward distribution to treatment plants within country.
It has the capacity to hold at least 1,200 tons of garbage per day; which means that over 100 waste trucks of various sizes can dump at the facility daily.
Company officials say the inauguration of the facility comes at the back of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s promise of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa during his tenure of office.
Speaking at the commissioning of the facility in Accra, Thursday, President of the Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA), Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong said the Zoompak waste Transfer Station together with the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant, the Plastic and Recycling firm and the Teshie waste Transfer Station remain critical to Ghana’s solid waste management.
The commissioning of the facility, he added, marks an important milestone for the environmental service providers since the closest landfills have been located far from the city.
For instance, he said the Kpone Engineered Landfill near Tema is sited 90 km turn-around while that of Nsumia at Nsawam is 75 km turn-around.
“The Achimota Transfer Station has come at the right time to help our members to improve on their collection of municipal solid waste. Currently, the Accra Metropolis generates about 3,000 tons of waste daily. The Teshie Transfer Station is already absorbing 1,300 tons and that of the Achimota Transfer Station is also built to receive 1,300 tons. As ESPA members, the plant will improve our turn-around time, reduce maintenance cost of our vehicles as they will be travelling shorter distances, reduce fuel cost and driver fatigue. It will also ensure speedy collection and haulage of waste from the city, and begin the cleanest city agenda as envisioned by our government,” he noted.
