Ghana needs processing plant for waste plastics – Voltic GM

By Frank Owusu-Ofori

Philip Redman (L) interacting with The Biz portal reporter during the tour of Akwadum Plant

The General Manager of Voltic (Gh) Limited has bemoaned Ghana’s inability to add value to all the plastic wastes that it generates in the country.

According to Philip Redman, the biggest challenge at the moment is that there is no capability or capacity of processing and recycling plastic waste in the country.

He said Ghana needs to introduce that capacity and add value to all the plastic waste it generates.

He indicated that Voltic Ghana is currently undertaking that assessment with other partners around to introduce the necessary capacity so we can recycle the plastics we generate and get value on them.

“Once you create value on it, you can then pass it down the chain so we can get people collecting that waste off the streets,” he added.

Philip Redman made these comments when Voltic Ghana invited a group of journalists to tour the company’s new manufacturing plant at Akwadum near Nsawam, in the Eastern Region.

“The cost is one of the things we are assessing – we have looked across the world as to what other people are also doing. We have not decided which route to take. The more expensive the process the better and more value you get on your plastic product. However, the less expensive the process, the less value you get on your product.  So we are still assessing the two processes.”

He revealed that Voltic Ghana will soon introduce a community recycling project in the coming weeks to study how feasible the project will be.

The tour was aimed at solidifying an existing relationship with the media and further deepen stakeholder confidence in the company’s operation and the high international standards which the Voltic mineral water is produced.

The 20 acres Akwadum Plant which cost the company an initial three and half million dollars of investment currently produces about 6,000 bottled cases, 4,500 dispensers and 5,000 sachet waters all in a day. It would in the next five years be transformed to be on the same level with the Midei plant which produces over 35,000 – 40,000 bottled cases in a day.

Philip Redman indicated that the company will be investing one million dollars within the next 18 months to increase its capacity so it can meet the five years long term plan.

Voltic Ghana holds about 70 percent market share and is bent on remaining a market leader as it marks its 20^th year of operating in Ghana.

 

Voltic donates 2,200 Tutu desks

By thebizportal.wordpress.com

Phil Redman presenting the cheque to Mr. Hubert Charles

Voltic (GH) Limited, producers of Voltic Natural Mineral Water today handed over 2,200 tutu desks valued at GHC 127,130.000 to World Vision Ghana for distribution to school children in deprived communities in Ghana.

The annual project which was started in 2012 has over the years benefited over 4,000 school children in more than forty primary schools; who otherwise had no writing surfaces.

Presenting the Tutu desk to World Vision at a colourful ceremony in Accra, Mr. Philip Redman, General Manager of Voltic (GH) Limited stated that “we endeavour to create shared opportunities by reinvesting beyond our value chain. By ensuring the availability of some basic amenities, like teaching and learning materials, Voltic is supporting the government’s efforts in providing accessible education for future generations.”

Receiving the items on behalf of World Vision Ghana, National Director, Mr. Hubert Charles commended Voltic and stressed that “Education is the keyhole through which we all must pass to have a chance at a good life. World Vision will not relent to provide children especially the most vulnerable, opportunity to have the best of education in Ghana”.

Tutu desks are portable school desks (flat surface writing boards) a project initiated by the Tutu desk Campaign, whose Patron is South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It is aimed at providing writing surfaces for children in Sub Saharan Africa who do not have the benefit of a classroom desk. The absence of a writing surface has been found to affect the handwriting, concentration and overall academic performance of these children.

Voltic (GH) Limited’s partnership with World Vision Ghana to bring Tutu desk to children in deprived communities in Ghana is in line with Voltic’s corporate objective to support initiatives that seek to improve access to primary education and improvement in educational infrastructure

Recognising the benefits of these desks, Augustine Wadzro, a 17 year old beneficiary and Junior High student of Dedesu DA Junior High School in the Afram Plains stated “Since I joined this school I have been sharing desk and sometimes sit and write on the floor but today, I have something to write on. I want to learn so hard that I can write letters for the elders in my community and also teach the young ones.”

Voltic (Gh) Limited through the acquisition and distribution of Tutu desk demonstrates a sustainable approach in building a thriving world, one of the company’s sustainable development goals 4.