The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), jointly with the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) have launched the Ghana Circular Economy Centre (GCEC) Project initiative, towards transitioning key sectors including Plastics, Textiles and Agriculture and agro-processing to a circular economy.
The project is receiving funding from Global Affairs Canada.
A circular economy is described as a regenerative system designed to minimize waste and maximize resource utilisaion by keeping products, materials and components in use for as long as possible.
Ghana currently consumes over 1.1 million tonnes of plastic annually, most of which is used for short-lived purposes like packaging with only 19 per cent of plastic waste recovered, a study says.
The rest clogs drainage systems, pollutes water bodies, communities, with those buried under the soil taking centuries to decay as well as contributes to frequent urban flooding.
Meanwhile, plastic types such as Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), and Polyethylene Thermoplastic Polymer (PET) hold significant economic potential if appropriate recovery methods and locally driven technologies are applied to harness their value.
The initiative is being carried out in partnership with the University of Cape Coast, Ho Technical University (HTU), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and The Or Foundation.
The project is anchored on four key pillars: Establishing a Centre of Excellence for Circular Economy, Providing Technical Assistance and Capacity-building for the development of circular economy technologies and enterprises, Facilitating access to finance for innovative circular economy initiatives and Offering a Platform for Networking and Knowledge Exchange.
Central to the plastics value chain initiative is the University of Cape Coast (UCC), serving as the Plastics Value Chain Lead (VCL) in partnership with Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) and City Waste Recycling (CWR) Ltd.
As part of the project activities, the team has developed a data-driven Circular Economy Opportunity Mapping (CE-OM) Report for plastics, which was validated during a national stakeholder workshop held at the Ho Technical University from July 15–16, 2025.
The project team is led by Professor Daniel Agyapong, with Dr. Daniel Ofori serving as the project coordinator. Other key members include Dr. Alex Boadi Dankyi, the Project Administrator; Professor Samuel Tulashi; Professor David Teye Doku, Director of DRIC, UCC; and Dr. Peterson Owusu Jnr, all from UCC. The team also includes Dr. Kwame Anane-Fenin from CCTU, Vivian Yaa Mawuli Ahiayibor and Jurgen Meinel from CWR Limited.
