Held from 21-23 July, the inaugural Ghana Waste Fair brought together more than 300 stakeholders to share and discuss innovative ideas to promote sustainable waste management in the country. Supported through PAGE and led by UNDP, with the Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership and the Waste Recovery Platform, the two-day event spanned participants from the private sector, civil society, and government, including from the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), research and academic institutions. With over 50 exhibitors, topics of discussion included MSME financing and sustainable finance, policy design, and programmatic and technical solutions to waste management challenges in the country.
The fair also hosted business clinics, with more than 100 MSMEs participating, to foster capacity-building in areas such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and market valuation and analysis, marketing and communication strategies, product design, business proposal development, how to pitch for business funding support.
Key actors in the waste value chain underscored the need for a policy intervention to support innovation in the waste management ecosystems that will motivate more people and companies to find innovative solutions for sustainable waste management and promote circular economy.
‘’Whilst we do our best as individuals and companies to solve the waste problem through our innovations, government should incentivize us with tax exemptions and other support to enable us scale up for a deepened impact’’, noted panelist Matilda Payne Boakye-Ansah, Founder of MH Couture and Extreme Upcycle.