Since March 2016, Ankwa Roots has supported the Ghanaian environmental initiative Won Bee Ga, Ba!, which organises regular beach clean-ups in Accra. In addition to these clean-up activities, the volunteers work with local nurseries and schools, raising awareness of waste-related problems, associated health risks and good hygiene practices. “Won Bee Ga, Ba!” translates as “Come! Let’s Sweep Accra!”
In February 2022, Kappe Projektentwicklung from Braunschweig, Germany, supported us in setting up a plastic waste collection point on the beach in Accra. This facility allows Won Bee Ga, Ba! to safely store collected plastics and equipment. Visitors can also learn about our pilot project for waste management along Accra’s coastline.
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Pilot Project for Waste Management on Accra’s Beaches
Approaches to Preventing, Reducing and Reusing Plastic Waste
Background and Motivation
Environmental pollution along Accra’s beaches has increased dramatically in recent years. Since 2016, the Ghanaian community initiative Won Bee Ga, Ba! has been carrying out clean-up activities along the beaches and coastline, but with only limited success.
These experiences demonstrate that the waste problem in Ghana’s capital is widespread and urgently needs to be addressed. The pilot project aims to take an initial, effective step towards tackling this challenge in collaboration with other initiatives and relevant stakeholders. Its goal is to improve public health, quality of life and employment opportunities in both the short and long term.
Objectives of the Pilot Project
Accra, the capital of Ghana, is a major coastal city on the Gulf of Guinea with a population of approximately four million people. Our pilot project focuses on the historic part of the city, located near the fishing harbour in the Jamestown district. A central feature of this area is the approximately five-kilometre-long sandy beach known as Central Beach, which connects the historic city centre with the present-day government district of Osu (see Figure 1).
1. Central Beach – 2. Annahmestelle / Community Point – 3. Plastik-Lagerstelle
Waste-Free Bay: Our main goal is to keep the first bay in the historic district of Jamestown (near point 2 on the map) clean in the long term and develop it into an attractive place for enjoying nature and taking part in a wide range of sporting activities.
A Model for Other Beach Areas: Our pilot project aims to serve as a model and inspiration for cleaning up other sections of the coastline. At the conclusion of the project in 2025, we plan to document our experiences in a report and make our findings available to others. The main focus will be on practical approaches to plastic recycling.
Empowering Future Community Leaders: Our educational project focuses on sharing knowledge and raising awareness among children and young people in Jamestown and Osu about waste-related problems and local solutions for plastic recycling. This will be achieved through cooperation with local NGOs, plastic recycling companies and artists.
Approaches to Preventing, Reducing and Reusing Plastic Waste
The pilot project for waste management on Accra’s beaches explores various approaches to preventing, reducing and reusing plastic waste.
Awareness and Education:Through targeted information campaigns and educational initiatives, residents and visitors learn about the environmental impact of plastic waste. We focus on positive activism and use the universal languages of music, art and sport to introduce children and young people to environmental issues in an engaging and playful way.
*Waste Collection and Beach Clean-Ups:Regular beach clean-ups are organised to remove waste washed ashore each day and keep coastal areas clean. Establishing a collection point and mobilising volunteers helps make these activities more effective.
Promoting Recycling:A mobile experimental workshop equipped with small plastic recycling machines provides schoolchildren and students with an introduction to the recycling process and encourages them to develop sustainable product ideas (see the second pilot phase).
*Reducing Single-Use Plastics:Measures are introduced to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics, including promoting reusable alternatives and encouraging restrictions on single-use plastic products.
*Partnerships and CollaborationThe project works closely with relevant stakeholders, traditional royal families, schools, universities, NGOs and local businesses to develop long-term solutions to the plastic waste crisis. These partnerships help make the implementation of these measures more effective and sustainable.
First Pilot Phase
During the first pilot phase (2022–2023), a collection and storage facility for recyclable plastic waste will be established on Accra’s beach, based on designs developed by the open-source initiative Precious Plastic. This facility will serve as a central location for organising regular beach clean-ups, during which waste washed ashore each day will be monitored and documented over a period of two years. The waste collection activities will focus primarily on recyclable materials, particularly plastics, which will be cleaned, sorted by type and stored separately. Non-recyclable waste will be disposed of at a government-operated landfill.
A mobile shipping container serves as a storage facility, providing secure space for the equipment needed for the clean-up activities. The initial aim is to establish the collection point as a meeting place, particularly for local residents and volunteer waste collectors from the neighbouring districts of Jamestown and Osu. Visitors can learn about the project and access information about different types of recyclable plastics and the planned recycling process.
Second Pilot Phase
During the second pilot phase (2024), we plan to establish an experimental workshop where we will use two recycling machines (a shredder and an extruder) to transform the plastic waste we have collected into useful products. This phase will be supported by the local recycling company Pyramid Upcycling Enterprise.
The first 12 months are planned as an experimental phase involving schoolchildren and students. The main goal is to work with local residents to develop a sustainable product that benefits communities living along the coast. The current focus is on producing building materials, particularly plastic beams and building blocks with a wide range of potential uses.
KCollaborative Expertise
By bringing together organisations, groups and individuals with different areas of expertise and backgrounds, the project benefits from a wide range of perspectives and approaches to developing and implementing sustainable solutions to the waste problem on Accra’s beaches.
Initiators & Project Support
- Ankwa-Roots e.V., a non-profit organisation based in Braunschweig, Germany, represented by Mandy and Claas Wiechmann, members of the organisation’s board.
- Precious Plastic, an open-source recycling initiative based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
- Ga Traditional Council, the traditional governing council of the Ga people in Accra, represented by Nii Dodoo Nsaki II, former President of the Ga Traditional Council.
- Kwaabuette & Abajo, traditional music and dance groups from Accra.
- Ed-Franklin Gavua, a recycling artist and art teacher from Accra.
Projektentwicklung /-durchführung
- Won Bee Ga, Ba!, an environmental initiative working along Accra’s coastline.
- Pyramid Recycling Enterprise, a local plastic recycling company in Accra.
- Kappe Projektentwicklung , a project development company based in Braunschweig, Germany.
- Dr. Karl-Andreas Feldhahn, an entrepreneur from Hamburg, Germany.
- UMI Metallbau und Schweißtechnik , a metalworking and welding company based in Wildenberg, Germany.
- Voice of Waste Art Gallery , based in Braunschweig, Germany.
- Or Foundation, an environmental organisation focusing on textile waste in Accra.
- Voluntary Workcamp Association of Ghana, a volunteer organisation based in Accra.
- Entrepreneurship Hub University of Technology Braunschweig, Germany.
- Regional Maritime University Accra, represented by Douglas Soyelleh, a graduate in Transport and Logistics.
