Estimates show that Ghana’s capital city – Accra – alone, produces over three-thousand metric tons of plastic waste per day. The plastic waste is either burned in open-air thereby causing pollution and amplifying man-made climate change or it ends up in drains thus leading to flooding during the rainy season. The stagnant water from the floods lead to malaria and cholera which affect the most vulnerable in society (Graphic Online 2017; Joy online 2017; Joy Online, 2018).

But what if plastic was seen as a resource? What if education combined with entrepreneurial training for students in Ghana could help prevent over 3000 tonnes of waste on Ghana’s streets? What if these students can further contribute to changing the mindset of the whole nation in moving towards a waste-free economy?

These questions serve as the basis for the Recycle Up project. It’s innovation hinges on the main philosophies that “local problems must be solved by local people”, and that “the youth are the future change-makers” and as such should be empowered to start acting from now.

The project is based on a three-phase approach with Knowledge phase comprising of our summer camps and summer schools; the Experience phase comprising of providing a training platform for our members and participants to gain work experience, put theory into practice through volunteering amongst other hands on workshops; and lastly the Solutions phase – which is to put the knowledge and experiences to use, and to create long lasting solutions for society.

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