Voltic Ghana Limited has held its buyback program in the La community, a suburb of Accra, to push plastics as a resource that can be sold for recycling purposes from the community.

The programme is to encourage the recycling of used plastic for other commercial purposes and also ensure a clean environment in the community.

Residents of La over the weekend were engaged on how to earn some income from the programme by Voltic Ghana Limited and partners including Coliba, University of Ghana Plastic Recycling Project and Green Alliance.

In an interview with the media at the programme, Managing Director of Voltic Ghana, Francois Gazania, expressed disappointment about how plastic waste is treated in the country and called for firm action to stop the menace.

He also used the occasion to educate the La Community on the need to protect the environment by segregating waste and recycling plastic materials which are part of the Voltic buyback programme.

"I must say it is not acceptable that the plastic packages end up in the wrong places like the ocean and drainage tunnels. We must get together to save the environment for the health of our generation" he said.

The programme drew over 100 volunteers from Voltic, Coliba, Green Legends, Cyclolyte, Akoma Inc and YALI Ghana Cohort 14.

The Community Buy-Back is a monthly programme initiated by Voltic with the aim of educating the public about the negative impacts of littering of plastic waste and the need to segregate plastic waste for recycling purposes.

It further demonstrates that plastic waste has economic value as they can be sold and recycled into other products.

The buyback initiative is premised on the understanding that once people know that they can segregate and sell their post-consumer plastic waste for recycling purposes, they will cease littering and the accompanying negative impact to the environment will be eliminated.

“As a company using plastics as part of our packaging, we believe we have a responsibility to help manage our post-consumer waste in a sustainable manner with all stakeholders in the value chain. This is why waste management is one of our three major sustainability/ CSR focus areas.”

Volunteers drawn from the various partners move out in groups to educate the community while also picking up littered waste.

The plastic waste collected by the volunteers, together with those already segregated by the community (because of the advance notice of the buyback), is bought by Coliba for recycling.

After the event, Coliba goes in to buy from the community every fortnight.

A total of 4.2 tonnes of plastics have been collected and bought since the inception of the Community Buyback.

The fortnight buybacks have so far yielded in a total of 0.5 tonnes of plastics

These wastes would have otherwise been left in the environment or into the water bodies.