In Togo, the private sector supports the government’s solid waste management policy. Only recently, Togocom and Africa Global Recycling (AGR), a company specialising in waste recycling, launched the “Ecobox” project. The initiative aims to reduce the proliferation of waste in Togolese cities. The project is the first phase of a three-year programme.
The two partners started the pilot phase of “Ecobox” in Aného. In this coastal town in south-east Togo, the project will install three Ecoboxes for the collection of solid waste in the Lacs 1 council. The facilities will be used to collect and buy back recyclable solid waste from the population and the informal sector. Togocom and AGR will recruit three eco waste collectors to facilitate collection in Aného.
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The “Ecobox” project will then be rolled out to other towns in Togo. AGR will recycle the collected waste. The recycled products will be sold to companies looking for low-cost raw materials. “We will set up new types of sales points for Tmoney products and services,” says telecommunications operator Togocom.
Mitigating solid waste pollution
In order to achieve effective results, Togocom plans to integrate digitalisation into the process of collecting and recovering solid waste in Togo. This should help reduce soil and water pollution. According to the National Agency for Sanitation and Public Health (Anasap), the individual production of waste in Togo is within the norm for developing countries, i.e. 0.4 to 2 kg per inhabitant per day.
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In Togo, part of the waste produced will soon be converted into biogas, in Kloto in the Plateaux region. Biothermica Technologies is implementing this project at a cost of 250 million CFA francs (over 381,000 euros). The Canadian company believes that converting waste into biogas should provide a sustainable solution to the problem of waste pollution in Kloto and reduce CO2 emissions by 260,000 tonnes by 2030 in Togo.
Inès Magoum