The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has launched an Inter-school Waste Segregation and Recycling Challenge among five schools within the Metropolis.
The schools include St. Joseph Basic School, Fankyenebra M/A Basic School, Amankwatia M/A Primary School, Bantama Presby Primary School and Buokrom M/A Primary School.
The pilot programme aims at imbibing in students the culture of waste management, segregation and recycling to promote environmental sustainability.
Despite numerous interventions to improve the sanitation situation in Kumasi, authorities have not achieved the desired results in recent years. Observing the reluctance of the elderly in the fight against environmental pollution, the KMA launched this project.
Addressing the media, the Mayor of Kumasi, Samuel Pyne, lamented the negative attitude of the citizenry towards waste management and environmental sustainability.
He highlighted the ignorance of using dustbins provided at vantage points as a major contributing factor to the poor sanitation issues in the Metropolis.
“We started this HORESD project, and we launched it here in November. When you go to town, we have large containers there. We have procured eight compactor vehicles, and we have employed about 250 people to make sure that the city is clean.
“But we still have challenges because we have people who will go there, the trash bins are empty. But they will just dump the trash on the ground, saying that people are paid to do that job. So that attitude should be changed, and that is one major reason why we want to imbibe in the pupils the need to make sure that they keep the environment clean.”
He added that, “This programme was inspired by the visit to Columbus highway, a story told by the head of waste management there. We believed that the essence of separating trash for both economic usage and cleaning the environment and sustainability was very important. That’s why we formed these clubs at the various schools.
“We also appeal to the Ghana Education Service to engage the teachers to at least three times a week dedicate 5 minutes of contact hours in the morning for education on waste separation and keeping the environment clean.”
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