Technology Without Borders

Recycle Up! – Turning Plastic Waste into Opportunity for Schools in Ghana

About the Project

In Ghana, plastic waste usually ends up on the streets or gets burned. The small drinking water sachets sold everywhere pollute roads, rivers, and schoolyards. But one person's waste is another's resource – more and more recycling companies in Ghana are buying these sachets as well as plastic bottles to resell them in recycled form! This is exactly where Recycle Up! comes in. The concept is simple: schools collect plastic waste, sell it to local recycling companies, and use the proceeds to fund school supplies. In workshops, students learn why recycling matters and how they can take action themselves. Collection bins are then set up and maintained by dedicated students and teachers. This way, we're investing in Ghana's future and showing how everyone can benefit from responsible plastic management. From October to December 2024, Samuel and Dana traveled to Ghana to expand the program together with local partners. The regional groups in each city play a key role – building contacts, preparing knowledge, and presenting it to students. This ensures that all the knowledge stays in Ghana, even when the German team members return home, and the project continues. The result: 31 schools are now participating in the program – from primary schools to senior high schools. Around 40,000 students now have access to knowledge about plastic and the opportunity to sell it to recycling companies. The first collection already brought in nearly 2 tons of plastic waste. The program is now active in three regions – Sunyani, Tamale, and Somanya. A key factor for success is the contact with local recycling companies, as well as the logistics to store the plastic and transport it as efficiently as possible from the schools to the recycling facilities. All of this is continuously managed and maintained by members of the local regional groups. What makes it special: the local teams continue running the project independently. A simple monitoring system was introduced to identify general trends and problems early on. The project is particularly embraced in Tamale and is being expanded with additional environmental awareness measures at schools, allowing TeoG to offer a broad concept with many opportunities for students and teachers to get involved. Recycle Up! shows that environmental protection and economic benefit can go hand in hand, achieving broad acceptance and support. Schools benefit financially, students learn responsibility – and Ghana becomes a little cleaner.