The ASASE Foundation launched Project CASH IT! in November of 2018. Since then the recycling plant has opened and we’ve successfully turned 5.6 tons of plastic into pavement blocked with the help of our partners at Nelplast. We wanted to take the time to acknowledge the hard work that went into bringing the CASH IT! initiative to life.
After the launch of CASH IT! a series of workshops were organized by the ASASE team to identify the people in the community, mostly among waste pickers, who were ready to come work in the CASH IT! Plant. Another focus was to identify aspiring entrepreneurs within the Accra region that would be interested in working with CASH IT!. We then hired a technician and 3 women operators to work in the recycling plant. Once we hired our CASH IT! team we held technical trainings for all employees. We worked with Mr. Frank, a mechanical technician, and builder of recycling equipment from the Katamanso community, who spent 2 weeks training our employees on the machines.
With our team in place, we started production in March 2019. Since then we have bought and reprocessed over 7 tons of plastic. We have successfully sold 5.6 tons of plastic to Nelplast, who has turned all that volume made into pavement blocks.
We have also been training our project officer, Patricia Agyare, to run the plant while on the job. Some of her tasks include buying plastic waste, planning production, selling our products and managing the CASH IT! team. She oversees the technician, operators and many other temporary workers whom we hire for jobs like cutting the plastic waste before grinding.
We are learning while building partnerships and continuously challenge ourselves with the question: is our work making a real impact in the community?
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