A private company known as Chicason Plastic Recycling Hubs, involved in the recycling of plastic and metal wastes has expressed her intentions to partner the Abia State Goverment in proper waste management.
Speaking in Umuahia the State capital during the graduation ceremony of of the hub’s trainees the chief executive Officer
Carbon Afrika Chizoba Adigwe, said the company has a recycling hubs in Aba and Umuahia.
She said the hup has proposed to work with the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency in refuse collection and management in the State.
Adigwe, revealed that that the hub
was seeking a partnership between ASEPA and the ministry of Youth to engage in training and issuing of licences for refuse collection and proper management.
She said, “We will like to see our trained apprentice working together to make sure that you successfully manage this hub. What we are doing now is because of the change of government.
“Unfortunately we didn’t secure the concession that we needed in the past. That’s what we are pursuing now with this new Goverment. We are intouch with the ministry of environment. We know they know about this place.
“We want ASEPA to see us as their partner and help us to be organized and successful in this project. If they can give us some areas we will be collecting waste. We will provide you with some vehicle that will help you go about to collect waste in any zone you want.
“We are also working hard to be able to get the concession you need to operate in this dump site. The problem with dump sites is that by the time the collectors will get to the dump cite most of the valuable waste will be removed, this is why you people have to be collectors too.
“You should be a able to know where you will go and get the valuable recyclables. We are not working with only plastic, we are also working with metal, extension, anything that’s recyclables you gather and we will send you buyers.
“The second part is training. we trained you so that some of you will become trainers, so we are gathering apprentices who some of you will train.
“We are even talking to ASEPA to see if they will allow us to use their facility for the training. We will also train their staff. Mr Amaechi Akorah, is the training manager, you will be seeing and working with him very soon because we want our apprentices to start their training by August so that they can take their NABTEB exam by October”.
Also speaking Mr otah Nwoke, the state co ordinator for chicason group in the State, pointed out that the hub will involve in plastic management, Environmental Protection and entrepreneur skill training.
He maintained that the importance of the hub cannot be over emphasize as it will reduce health hazard emanating from the dump sites as a result of climate change.
The codinator also pointed out that hub will boost the economy of the state when it becomes operational, adding that it would turn waste into wealth.
In a remark Hon Godwin Onyemazi Nwankwo, State secretary Civil society action group, Abia State, said the group was liasoning with the state government to make sure that all the requirement from the chikason group would be granted for running of the hub.
According to him, “Most of the activities of the civil society action since the electioneering campaign was to ensure that we elect leaders that would work for interest of the people of the state”.