By Nelson Manneh
On November 6, 2024, in Cape Town, the Green Africa Youth Organization was awarded the Earthshot Prize in the “Clean Our Air”.
The award was meant to celebrate GAYO’s incredible efforts in advancing zero-waste initiatives in Ghana. Their work inspires young people to transform their communities by reducing waste, creating jobs, and building critical infrastructure.
Desmond Alugnoa, co-founder of the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) in 2014, said the African continent is the fastest urbanizing region in the world, bringing individuals and communities more opportunities for education, healthcare, and jobs.
“The pace of uncontrolled expansion is raising serious challenges in cities across the continent. There is a lack of sustainable waste services and public awareness of proper ways to dispose of organic waste and recycle plastics and other reusable materials. As a result, much of this waste ends up in landfills or is destroyed by incineration or open burning, which creates waste-related air pollution,” Alugnoa said. He said a functioning waste management system is vital for all communities’ economic, social, and environmental well-being.
“Open burning of waste increases the level of dangerous air pollution. If sent to landfills, waste can pollute water supplies, rivers, and the Ocean, and can also damage soils with the degradation of plastics and harmful chemicals. The Zero Waste Model is designed to create jobs and build infrastructure to support circular waste management across Africa,” he said.
The co-founder of GAYO said the organization brings together waste management specialists with communities and minority groups who work on waste.
“GAYO employs and trains people from every part of the community, including women, young people, and waste collectors. This training includes waste management best practices and other commercial skills. These people can then earn money from selling compost and charcoal briquettes made from waste, which is at the heart of the model. GAYO also works to engage stakeholders to focus on community health and economic opportunity to secure greater awareness and adoption of the model,” he said. He said since 2019, they have created 70 green jobs for young people, widows, single mothers, and people with disabilities. As a result, he said more than 5,000 people have benefited directly or indirectly from the model.
“In 2023, GAYO kept 170 tons of waste out of landfills or 104 tons of organic waste and 66 tons of plastic. While they do not yet measure the impact on air pollution, they estimate their efforts saved the equivalent of 3.6 tons of CO2, or about the same as the emissions from a round-trip flight between London and Accra. GAYO has ambitious plans to build a movement across Africa, to drive behavioral change in waste management. The aim is to grow from 150 to 500 employees across half of African cities by 2030, extending our reach from Ghana into Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Madagascar, Niger, and Nigeria,” he stated.
As part of this, he said their goal is to reduce GHG emissions and particle pollution in Ghana by up to 70% compared to open burning, and to divert 50 tons/month (600/year) of waste, diverting a total of 4,000 tons of waste by 2030.
GAYO’s Zero Waste Model is highly replicable and if it achieves its plan to scale, it will become the leading approach to waste management on the African continent.
