A Ghanaian tech trio has teamed up to create a software app that will be used to collect and recycle plastic waste. The ‘Wonelcycer’, as they call it, will supposedly help Ghana to improve its sanitation issues. They coined the name from the reverse form of ‘Recycle now’.

 

The CEO of the company, Emmanual Appiah, said that the app aims to bring consciousness to the menace of indiscriminate littering.

 

He explained,

“If we are able to provide them with the solution, the technology that basically scans the bottle and it is not by bar code but it is by way of analysing it or understanding it and telling them that this bottle is worth say 10 pesewas or 50 pesewas so don’t throw it away, then we can make headway.”

 

 

Appiah went on to say,

“We are looking forward to seeing that the app will bring some consciousness of behaviour. When people don’t have an option, they tend to use whatever is available to them. For example, if people finish using bottled water and there isn’t a dustbin around to put it in or there isn’t any agent around to really target them and collect it, then, you will find it that, unfortunately, people will litter.”

 

The other two involved in the project are Jalel Moujalid and Delphina Jentina Bilobi Asaseyaa. Moujalid is the Head of Operations and Corporate Affairs, while Asaseyaa is the Head of Human Resource and Community Development.

 

The app requires people to scan empty bottles. It then determines how much the person is to be paid based on the number of rubbish plastics they have gathered.

 

Ghana is on the path to being environmentally conscious. At some point, there were deliberations as to whether plastic should be banned or not.

 

This follows the recent sanitation issues experienced in the country partly as a result of plastic waste disposal.

 

Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo had said he has the vision to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. However, plastic waste disposal has still been a major sanitary issue in the country.

 

Appiah reveals that he is working in partnership with other major stakeholders in the country to achieve the president’s vision.

 

Also read: Seven Reasons To Consider A Career As A Web Developer