D-Lab Inclusive Markets “Pick-it” project opens sorting center in Tema, Ghana

Opening ceremony for Tema sorting center.

Blog | Jul 27, 2018 | Fan Milk - MIT D-Lab

"As D-Lab's Creative Capacity Building (CCB) Workshop for business creation was utilized to develop the recycling enterprise with waste pickers, it is a real delight to see it come to fruition. This is a great accomplishment for the Accra waste pickers," comments MIT D-Lab's Libby Mcdonald.

Co-created and implemented by Fan Milk, in partnership with MIT D-Lab, the Danone Ecosystem Fund, Environment360, and WIEGO, Pick-it will enable the development of sustainable practices along the entire plastic value chain (from generation to recycling). The Tema center, located in greater Accra, will build the first waste pickers’ cooperative in Ghana and support 300 waste pickers.

After officially launching the Pick-it project in November 2017, Fan Milk, the leading manufacturer and marketer of ice cream and frozen yogurt in Ghana, and its partners announce the launch of a brand-new waste and plastic sorting-center in Tema New Town, a suburb of Tema, in the Greater Accra region. This sorting center is an integral part of the development of Pick-It, an inclusive recycling project with two main objectives: increase plastics collection rates, thus lowering pollution, and improve waste pickers livelihoods through innovative social and environmental solutions.

Pick-it is enabling the development of sustainable practices along the entire packaging value chain (from plastic generation to recycling). Waste pickers are being supported through management, technical and organizational trainings that will increase waste recovery rates, and increase their income. This will be enhanced by the creation of membership-based waste pickers’ organizations (cooperatives) such as the one launched in Tema New Town, where recyclables will be sorted and then sold to recycling plants. Downstream, recyclables will be collected door-to-door in households and also in markets, industries and lorry stations.

12,710 tons of municipal solid waste are generated per day in Ghana

It is estimated that 12,710 tons of municipal solid waste are generated per day in Ghana – 14% of which is plastic (NESSAP, 2010). These waste represent potential economic opportunities untapped but have also become a burning issue at a larger scale in Africa with an important and increasing consumption of plastic bags and other plastic packagings. All over the continent, governments have decided to address the topic and encourage companies and individuals to use alternative materials and have a better waste recovery industry. Pick-it aims to be proactively part of the solution.

The new center will build the first waste pickers’ cooperative in Ghana

The new center will build the first waste pickers’ cooperative in Ghana that will support waste pickers from two neighborhoods: New Town and Kpone Landfill. It is expected that by the end of 2019 the sorting center will be collecting and recovering at least 25 tons of plastics per month, which is equivalent to 30% of the total volume of packaging generated by Fan Milk in Ghana. By the end of 2022, Fan Milk Limited will become “waste positive”, by supporting 300 waste pickers in two more cooperatives to collect, segregate and recycle plastic waste.

Phase 1: Pilot, Phase 2: Replication

Pick-it is organized into two phases, each of them forecast to last for two and a half years. The first phase is this pilot phase launched in Tema. It will give the opportunity to Fan Milk to strengthen a coalition called GRIPE (Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises) formed by various industrial players in 2017. The second phase consists in replicating the model in two other Ghanaian cities and reaching 100% recovery of Fan Milk’s waste volume by 2022, once the first cooperative becomes self-sustainable and autonomous.

Pick-it has been co-created and implemented by Fan Milk Limited, in partnership with Environment360 , Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) and the MIT D-lab and benefits from the technical expertise of the Danone Ecosystem Fund . In addition to the implementation partners, the project also has the full support of the Tema Traditional Council (and of His Majesty Nii Adjei Kraku II, Tema Mantse) as well as from the Solid Waste Department of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), and the Environmental Protection Agency. The project is funded by the Danone Ecosystem Fund, Fan Milk Limited, and FMO (the Dutch Development Bank). The Hewlett Foundation is also supporting the project, through WIEGO.

Praise and support

“Fan Milk is proud to be one of the first companies to develop an innovative solution with the inclusive packaging recycling model and leverage the circular economy in order to have a positive impact on both the local communities and the environment. Pick-it is a project that allows both value creation and inclusive development in Ghana by turning waste into resources. On the longer term, our goal is to replicate Pick-it’s model in other cities throughout Ghana and become plastic positive by 2022” says Stéphane Cousté, Managing Director of Fan Milk Ghana.

“We are very proud to be part of this initiative. We benefit from the protection of the cooperative and also from various techniques that help us to collect waste more efficiently and to better manage our business. This has also helped us to gain greater recognition on the part of people around our work area. We have long suffered from a negative perception but now people see that what we do is good for their neighborhood and for the community at large, not mentioning the environment” says Esther Nyarkoa, a member of the waste picker’s cooperative in Tema New Town.

“The establishment of this Pick-it sorting center addresses some aspect of section 9 of L.I. 2250 on take-back systems and the Environmental Protection Agency is keen to learn lessons from its implementation”, says M.PWAMANG, CEO of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana.

"As D-Lab's Creative Capacity Building (CCB) Workshop for business creation was utilized to develop the recycling enterprise with waste pickers, it is a real delight to see it come to fruition. This is a great accomplishment for the Accra waste pickers," comments MIT D-Lab's Libby Mcdonald.

About Fan Milk (www.fanmilk.com)

Fan Milk Limited was incorporated in 1960 and was previously known as the Ghanaian Milk Company. It enjoys outstanding brand recognition in Ghana with the highest market share for frozen dairy products. It took advantage of Danish investment in the early 1960s and initially specialized in pasteurized milk. However, in 1962, the company changed its name to Fan Milk Limited. In 2013, Danone acquired 49% of Fan Milk and became a majority shareholder in 2016.

Fan Milk Limited was the first foreign-invested company in Ghana to become a Public Limited Liability in 1967 and among the first companies to be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange in 1990. The company produces and distributes milk-based and fruit-based products: frozen dairy products under the brands FANYOGO, FANCHOCO, FANICE and fruit-based or fruit flavored products under the brands FANDANGO or FANPOP.