Green Africa Youth Organization launches waste collection initiative in Accra schools

The Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) has launched a Zero Waste initiative in seven municipalities across Greater Accra to address failures in local waste management. The program follows reports from education officials in the La Dade Kotopon Municipality that students' efforts to sort organic waste and plastics were being undone by municipal collection trucks, which reportedly mixed the sorted materials back together during pickup.

To prevent this, GAYO plans to collect separated organic and plastic waste directly from participating schools, bypassing the municipal trucks. The organization is also distributing 200 bins, along with educational materials, to help students maintain sorting practices.

According to GAYO project coordinator Antonio Yayrator Korkuvi, organic waste, paper, and plastics constitute the majority of school-generated waste. Addressing organic waste is a priority for environmental goals, as decomposing organic matter in landfills produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The initiative comes as Ghana faces pressure to meet targets for reducing methane emissions from the waste sector by 2030.