In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 13, the CorpNation Foundation for the second time has launched their 4R+ Initiative in a school in Western Region. This time, super! The 4R+ Initiative teaches persons in schools and communities to practice waste reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery as well as to ensure adequate afforestation and most importantly, train and motivate a group of people to take ownership of and drive the initiative wherever it is launched.
Hitherto, the Bethel Methodist School in Takoradi who is the second school to receive this initiative, mixed their plastic wastes with paper, glasses and other wastes. Meanwhile, the students are being taught by their teachers and books, how to segregate waste theoretically. This is a complement from CorpNation Foundation which will afford them practical touch with waste management, most importantly to deal with plastic waste. It follows its successful simulation at Ghana Secondary Technical School (G.S.T.S) half a year ago.
The launch which took place on the Bethel Methodist School premises in Takoradi on Friday 28th October 2022, ended in about 2hours after commencement with complementary speeches from district and regional representatives from relevant state institutions, revealing their all time support to the continuous progress of the initiative in Western Region of Ghana and beyond.
Present at the launch were representatives from GES Western Region, Environmental Protection Agency, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, University of Mines and Technology, the Forestry Commision, The Takoradi Bethel Methodist Society and Sekondi Diocese, students who are members of the Saving The Palnet club, teachers from G.S.T.S and the CNF Corporate Youth Clubs among others. Students and teachers from Bethel Methodist and Bedu Addo Basic School were also present in their numbers.
In a speech delivered on behalf of the CEO for CorpNation Foundation, Mr. Saviour Kwaku Adzika (Corp Sayvee) the students were advised not only to receive and practice this in their school but rather, be ambassadors of the initiative in their homes, churches and communities. Equally, the chairperson for the occasion N. K. Adjei Imbeah, a former Metro Director of Education at STMA, Teacher at Fijai Secondary School and a member of the Takoradi Society of the Methodist Church, emphasized to the students that being the first to receive this initiative at the basic school level, the onus is on them to make it sustainable and attractive to other basic schools.
Also in a speech delivered by the senior prefect of G.S.T.S, Master Emmanuel Tetteh-Djaban, he entreated the students of Bethel Methodist basic school to ensure a successful rollout of the initiative as it will not only address the poor waste management menace but also, generate funds (IGF) for the school. He added that G.S.T.S is enjoying IGF from organizations that are into the purchase of recyclable wastes.
As part of the launch, bins for collection of only plastic bottles, sachet water packs, general plastics, paper and general wastes were handed over to the school – a set to be positioned in each classroom.
More exciting and memorable was the 16mins drama staged by the New Takoradi Corporate Youth Club of CorpNation Foundation. The entire auditorium was beamed with laughter as they summarized the effects of waste mismanagement on public health as well as the goal of this initiative by CNF with hilarious scenes.
The launch was successfully crowned with the outdooring of a simply but calculatedly constructed cage that will be the recipient of all plastic wastes to be collected from the school. Each category of plastic waste will be emptied into a particular compartment within this cage. The 12ft x 8ft cage has been designed to be very user-friendly.
The 4R+ Initiative for the first time also, landed in a church, that is, Bethel Methodist church on 30th October, 2022. Ultimately, the students and church members of Bethel Methodist school and church have been conscientized about proper waste management through the launch of the 4R+ Initiative, and they are poised to practice it effectively.
The CorpNation Foundation is seeking support from interested individuals, institutions and organizations to enable them extend this initiative to their alma mata and every other school and community in Ghana. The project seeks to make Ghana the cleanest country in Africa, and Africa a cleaner continent within the shortest possible time.
