George Annan was sitting outside his house in the port city of Tema in Ghana one rainy day. Outside, the streets were flooded, and the rains were not letting. In his thoughts and looking at the insane amount of coconut waste strewn all over the place, especially on the roadside, an idea was born.
Fibrewealth Limited is a Ghanaian owned company specializing in the manufacture of cocopeat; a multipurpose growing medium made from coconut husk. The company which was established in 2014 operates from Adjei Kojo in the Tema West Municipality near the port city of Tema.
“The biggest motivation for people to bring waste into the city was due to higher prices of coconut, a stark opposite if the coconut was bought in the village,” George said.
After people had consumed the coconut, the waste had no where to go and so ended up being dumped on the streets. Mosquitoes and rodents then found refuge in the discarded shells while other solid waste from the husks and coconut shells chocked sewer lines and rivers before eventually ending up in the ocean.
These blocked drains resulted in flooded roads and homes.
“I realized that waste was one of the challenges that the country was facing,” George says. “Coconut is one of the wastes which is very difficult to decompose and therefore to be discarded.”
While other organizations were into plastic recycling, George decided to venture into coconut waste recycling. He went throughout the country trying to find out where coconut waste went after extraction of the useful parts.
Getting machines for recycling was not only expensive but also not locally available. Being an engineer, and lacking financial support, George decided to assemble the needed machinery himself. Banks could not understand what he was trying to develop nor were other potential funders who declined to entertain his idea.
Undeterred, George decided to sell his car and beg his father to allow him to sell a part of the family land thus enabling him to start himself off.
His father was the only one who believed in what he was doing. George promised his father that he was going to buy back the land once business paid off.
“Because he gave me the only family land and which belonged to the whole family, I was cautious and used the money prudently, knowing that I would have to buy the land back for the family,” George pensively observes.
The company's business transcends both the waste management and agricultural sectors as the company uses discarded coconut husks as raw materials in its production activities to produce cocopeat, an alternative to the use of topsoil for planting. Coir Pith, the spongy material that binds the coconut fibre in the husk, is an excellent soil conditioner and is being extensively used as a soil-less medium for agri-horticultural purposes. Cocopeat is a by-product separated out of the husk while extracting the fiber. Its capacity to hold moisture eight times its weight makes coir pith an excellent soil conditioner.
Speaking on the sidelines of the SWITCH Africa Green Regional Meeting in Kampala, Uganda, Patrick Mwesigye, UNEP Africa Office Regional Coordinator on Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production said that “Switch Africa Green Programme has allowed us to reach out and support a range of stakeholders – from private sector (MSMEs) to policy makers. Regional meetings like this allows us to bridge the gap and bring the ground realities closer to the policy makers.”
Buyers are mainly from plantation farms, greenhouse farms, seed starting companies and horticulturists. George offers various services such as product labelling, while meeting horticultural and greenhouse needs for customers. The flexible solution he provides has made his company become the most notable coco product suppliers in the Ghanaian marketplace.
From the coconut waste, comes organic manure for use in farms and fibre for biodigesters. The fibre is also used for making door mats, sealing panels, floor tiles and household and kitchen cabinets and various brushes.
George heard about SWITCH Africa Green programme through one of the programme grantees, the Ghana National Cleaner Production Centre. Officials of the institution visited him after a friend informed them of George’s work. They were amazed at what they saw, especially the machines that had been designed from scratch.
“Ever since I joined the programme, I have seen improvement upon improvement in terms of marketing and waste use,” George says emphatically. “Formally, I used to create a lot of waste after producing manure and the fibre and other waste products, but the SWITCH Africa Green Programme has helped me to be able to sell the byproducts to the horticulture industry as substitute soil for flower farms. The programme has also trained me on marketing strategies through networking which has helped me get more business from some of our contacts who need the fibre for their biodigesters.”
SWITCH Africa Green is currently working with some of the entrepreneurs to help them access international markets. The international market has its own standards and George is hopeful that the near future he will be able to meet those standards and import better machines. This will help him in terms of packaging and increasing production to be able to meet the international standards.
“SWITCH Africa Green is like a mother to my company,” George says with finality. “It came at the right time, when I was struggling, and I have benefited a lot from them.”
SWITCH Africa Green has supported the company to improve its processes significantly through their education and training especially on identifying and minimizing waste.
“The program has taught us how to get the disposed of coconut husk to be segregated directly at source before we bring it into the factory thus minimizing contamination and the amount of foreign matter in our product,” George said.
It has also afforded George the opportunity to be exposed to stakeholders in the green environment and this has helped to boost sales especially for the long fibers which was initially difficult to sell. It has especially been useful to contractors who are into the production of bio digesters. This growth has led to an increase in the number of workers, most of who are first time employees without work experience especially women and whose children are being supported through school.
To improve upon the packaging for the foreign markets he is looking to acquire special machines. Due to the expansion of his business, George needs a bigger truck for the collection of waste which forms his raw materials.
“SWITCH Africa Green has given me a lot training on how to manage the waste and network with people from other countries. Switch has also helped me in getting the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) certificate. Formally I used to create a lot of waste at the site but today am able to sell the waste to other people who also use it as a medium for growing their flowers in the horticultural industry.”
The agency has also helped the company with getting certification from other state agencies as a result of the improvements in their processes.
