The manufacturing and trading giant, Group Mohinani, has launched a mega waste management and plastic recycling campaign in basic schools in line with its continuous effort to promote environmental education and responsible waste management in Ghana.
The campaign, which is currently running in forty-two (42) selected schools in the Greater Accra region, is designed to equip basic and junior high school students with the knowledge, tools, values, and creativity required to become agents of environmental change in their communities.
It’s aimed at reaching over 500,000 people, including students beyond the selected schools, through on-ground engagement and digital amplification.
As part of this campaign, students in the participating schools are taken through interactive sessions on plastic, paper, organic, and mixed waste—showcasing the importance of sorting waste properly and reducing environmental harm—over a 3-month period. They are subsequently encouraged to collect, segregate, and produce any innovative products out of the post-consumer waste collected for the ultimate prize.
Innovation challenge
The campaign will climax with a mega innovation fair in November where student-led teams from all participating schools will exhibit their recycled artifacts, crafts, prototypes, or ideas for recyclable materials in their environment for assessment by a panel.
The top three winners will win not only cash prizes for themselves but also a seed fund for the construction of a sustainability center in their schools. Other prizes at stake include laptops, educational materials, and branded souvenirs.
According to the chairman of the Mohinani Group, Ashok Mohinani, “Sustainability is not just a policy at Mohinani but also a personal commitment to the communities we serve. Our goal with this campaign is to shape the mindset of tomorrow’s leaders to become sustainability conscious and eco-heroes who will champion the sustainability agenda in their communities.”
He observed that since the introduction of the plastic waste management and recycling challenge in 2016, the campaign continues to expand each year, and that the enthusiasm demonstrated by students offers a delightful hope to Ghana’s recycling industry and environmental sustainability.
“This competition is not a short-term project but one that will be expanded to cover other regions and eventually the entire country in the future,” Mr. Ashok asserted.
Empowering students to become sustainability heroes
Over 60 trained volunteers, mostly drawn from Academic City University, have been deployed to facilitate the sensitization sessions, engage students with the official campaign anthem and dance and support idea development for the Innovation Challenge.
The campaign has also trained 60 teachers, alongside regional and national education officers, to strengthen long-term waste education delivery within their respective schools.
The initiative is being implemented in partnership with StratNova Partners, TKC Africa and the Ghana Education Service with support from Academic City University.
According to the Director of TKC Africa, Hanna Acquah, “This isn’t just a campaign. It’s a blueprint for how corporate social responsibility can drive systemic, intergenerational impact.”
A Legacy of Sustainability
The Mohinani Group, which comprises notable entities such as Polytanks Ghana, Somotex Ghana, Somoco Ghana, Somochem Ghana, and Masco Foods, which owns the franchise for KFC Ghana, continues to push boundaries in the sustainability circle with significant initiatives.
As part of its broader sustainability agenda, the Group has recently established Ghana’s first-ever bottle-to-bottle recycling plant to accelerate the adoption of rPET packaging to reduce plastic wats and enhance the circular economy.
This investment underscores the Group’s long-standing commitment to building a cleaner, more sustainable future for Ghana and the African continent.