A new dawn to plastic pollution management in Accra; The BorlaPlast Story
| Left: Issaka Abubakar a.k.a ProcessGuy. Right: A trainee |
Maamobi, often spelt with a single “a”, as known is not a fishing town but the Process Guy believes that whether one belongs to a fishing community or not, everyone is responsible for his or her action. Indiscriminate disposure of plastics in the environment goes a long way to affect everyone in the country. Plastic waste endangers the land, water and air. The plastics that are inappropriately disposed end up in the gutters and sewages and eventually in the sea and become a threat to the aquatic life. No sooner than later, humans have their own share of the aftermath of their actions and inactions.
A 2016 study by Kotei and Quansah stated that Ghana is a heavy importer of plastic. About 10,000 metric tons of plastic are brought into the country excluding the ones locally manufactured. In Accra only, about 300 tons of plastic is produced daily said Agbai, in an article dated 2018. In all the Ghana environmental Protection Agency told researchers that about 73% of these plastics end up as waste with only 19% of it being reused.
The
above reasons coupled with yet to be said others will reveal the true
motivation of Process Guy towards his journey.
What then is BorlaPlast?
Fish have become “increasingly expensive”, Elmasoeur Ashitey, a food and agriculture researcher mentioned. But fish are not the only species affected by plastics. Aquatic wildlife creatures such as sea turtles, seabirds, seals and other marine mammals are affected through entangle or ingestion of plastics. The center for Biological Diversity has launched a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States to “begin regulating plastics as a pollutant and is working to stop plastic pollution at the source, before it ever has a chance to reach the ocean´” the center said.
Fish is the cheapest protein any average Ghanaian can afford. Therefore, if there comes a shortage of it due to plastic polluting the waters, pressure will be mounted on imported fish which will affirm Ashitey’s study on fish becoming increasingly expensive. In simple terms, the average Ghanaian may no longer be able to afford a fish for his meals.
Perhaps, this was the thought that run through Issaka’s mind and eventually led him to manifest BorlaPlast. “We are trying to beat the plastic pollution so that by 2050, we have more fish in the ocean” says Issaka Abubakar, who revealed in a 2020 interview with Cycleanics that he was gingered to take up the course after he extended a helping hand to some fishermen to pull out the net, they casted onto the waters with the hopes of catching fish. But to his amusement, they caught more plastics than they did fish. “The fishermen confirmed that that has been the norm ever since the city got drowned in plastic waste”. He added.
Six years into his encounter with the fishermen on the shores of Accra, he had been collecting plastic waste bottles mainly and that birthed “BorlaPlast”.
 |
| Process Guy carrying trash he collected from the beach |
“Borla” is the
local Ghanaian word for “trash” or “garbage” whereas “plast” is shortened from
the word “plastic”. Therefore, the term “BorlaPlast” means “Plastic trash”.
With more than 2 tons of plastic waste collected from the East of Maamobi only, BorlaPlast turns these plastic wastes into bins to collect other plastic bottles and sachets. Like his alias suggests, he processes plastics by upcycling them. He refers to his work as upcycling because he reuses the trash bottles to make different products of which the bins are the most popular.
The World Economic Forum stated that approximately 5% of plastic waste is collected yearly in Ghana. This stat is but minus the number of what BorlaPlast collects.
Impacts
Ever since Issaka’s creative way of minimizing plastic pollution in Maamobi commenced, he single-handedly trained more than 50 locals. Women, men and children have undergone training and education on how to produce bins from the waste plastic bottles and how to use the bins. Pupils from some schools were not spared of this training and education on the importance of plastic bins.
No
stone in the community has so far been left unturned as at almost every small and
big gathering, he lobbied his way through it to educate people about what
BorlaPlast does and stands for.
 |
| A trainee excited after fixing a plastic bin |
Once at a Farmers’ Day parade organized by the Municipal Chief Executive of Ayawaso North, of which Maamobi is part, Issaka provided the bins for the event organizers to place them at vantage points so that attendees do not loiter the event ground. Over there, he was given the audience and he took the opportunity to lead by example thereby stating his mission with the bins he provided. According to him, he has seen positive changes from his community and individuals who have passed through the center.
With the emergence of the bins and their availability, people have desisted from disposing plastic waste indiscriminately in the community. Others who would usually pay to dispose their wastes have been provided with the bins to dump their plastic materials without having to pay a pesewa.
Waste segregation is essential for a plastic recycling advocate like Issaka. It enables him and users of the trash bins to easily separate the plastic bottles from other wastes. It also makes it easier for him to lay hands on the separated plastic waste bottles when he begins production. It saves him the time and effort of having to first do the segregation.
Achievements
and Collaborations
In 2018, the BorlaPlast center received a researcher from the United States. The center assisted the researcher on waste and human behavior. He also received a student from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, during the peak of covid19 where they undertook research on general waste.
Locally, he has worked with visitors from the University of Ghana, Legon, and visitors from the Ghana Institute of Journalism. He said, his work with these students and visitors were not limited to plastic waste only but other fields of waste because of his knowledge on the topic of waste.
African Cleanup Initiative recognized and honored BorlaPlast in 2019 for its effort in keeping the city clean and free from plastic pollution. “They awarded me and I was happy and it was my first award and only award I won ever since I ventured into this waste business” he recalled.
 |
| Issaka Abubakar with his award in 2019 |
 |
| BorlaPlast bins |
He numbered the bins in the community as at the time of writing this story at 90. An organization known as Let’s Do It Ghana in 2022 partnered with BorlaPlast to produce a hundred plastic bins. After the production, the organization went away with only 25 of the bins. He produced additional bins to keep the numbers at 90.
 |
| Plastics collected from Ayawaso District |
In December of the same year, Ghanaian dancehall artiste, Jafaru Mohammed popularly known by the stage name “Addiself” cooperated with BorlaPlast to organize a cleanup exercise which geared towards promoting his peace concert “BBC to the world. In this, BorlapPlast center’s role was producing the maximum of five bins to make the campaign bounteous.
Difficulties
Ghana, in the media lenses, is becoming more and more aware about plastic recycling even though there is a huge struggle with waste management. Nationals struggle with adapting to waste segregation mainly because separating the waste means paying “too much” money to dispose of waste, said a resident.
Even, the rolled program of the Ayawaso Municipal Assembly in 2019 to distribute waste bins to households in the assembly was not geared towards waste segregation but towards the laudable vision of the president Nana Addo’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Ghana.
While in line of work, Issaka faces some challenges. This includes lack of collecting equipment such as tricycle. The tricycle is the most common machine or equipment he could go around the community with to pick disposed plastic waste bottles.
There is the shortage of hands i.e., labor force in doing the collection, production, training and education. He currently works with five people manually on part-time basis and this somewhat affect their productivity.
 |
| A rider making use of the BorlaPlast bin |
The center also faces issues with storage space as there are no enough room to store the collected plastic waste bottles and the bins after its production.
More importantly, the center lacks financial support. In making the bins, the founder of BorlaPlast said he incurs cost on materials such as iron rods and rubber threads which are very essential in producing the bins. Moreover, prices of goods are not stable on the market and it makes materials very costly.
He also mentioned that he pays wages to the five employees after their job is done. And this is an initiative that makes no profit. As a result, his productivity is squeezed because without any capital, there can be no plastic waste bottles collection nor bins making.
He lamented on the attitude of locals when he introduced a fee for the bins. He believes that feeing the bins will help him offset his cost of production and ultimately pay the wages of his workers. Unfortunately, locals have shown zero enthusiasm for the term “value for money” but are quick to accept and make use of the bins at a zero cost.
 |
| Process Guy in a brief section with some visitors at the BorlaPlast center |
Future of
BorlaPlast
Despite these
challenges that he faces, Issaka is determined to see a plastic free Ayawaso.
He urges the government and the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana, individuals or private investors to show interest in initiatives like his and invest in them to make them more effective and efficient so that together, the mission of beating plastic pollution will be realized. He also hopes that this initiative of his can be improved upon and rolled out in other communities in Accra and Ghana at large.
If not, it will always remain talks without action. Upcycling plastic bottles into waste bin is solving a plastic problem and therefore, he believes it can fetch an income for BorlaPlast to engage more people in this plastic-free affair.
Post a Comment