BY IBRAHIM JOENAL SESAY (232news.com)
Freetown Waste Transformers (FWT) on Wednesday 12 July 2023 trained waste collectors on waste sorting in compliance with industry standards, to ensure the waste collectors are efficient in their service delivery through the ‘DortiBox mobile app’ which was developed as a means of coordinating waste management activities across the sector, which directly feeds into FWT’s waste-to-energy project.
The training was discharged through the aid of training manuals developed by the trainers who facilitated the exercise. The Waste Collection Management Association (WCMA) members attended in their numbers to understand the right feed that can feed into the FWT’s supply chain.
The training manual was developed and designed to train waste collectors, as well as persons interested to learn about the general principles of handling different waste types from source to their natural end at a dumpsite or a recycling/waste treatment facility.
The objective of the manual according to the Project Manager for FWT, Michael Yambasu, is mainly targeted at addressing the abnormalities around waste collection with partnering waste collectors, while increasing their general understanding of waste types, and better informing them about how the different types can be handled in an environmentally friendly way that does no harm to them, the waste handlers and the environment.
He also pointed out that the emergence of the DortiBox mobile App as a digital tool for urban service will not only increase the sanitation levels across the city by making waste collectors easy to reach but that it also sets the tone for other urban services to revolutionalize themselves to meet the global trend of the digital age.
The sorting workshop touched on many industry sorting-related topics, not limited to sorting, but went on to laying the fundamentals to;
- Collect baseline data regarding the volume and type of waste and recyclables being generated across the city.
- Identifying the waste types that can be processed for material and energy recovery does not commix with other waste types.
- Separately store recyclable material for reuse.
- Safely handle and treat/dispose of hazardous waste materials.
He described waste sorting as a process of identifying and separating waste into different types. To this, he went on to say, waste sorting can be done at different points along the supply chain line from the household, waste collectors, transfer stations, and treatment sites.
The manual also contained: Categories of sorting, how to sort, Freetown Waste Transformers Workflow, what type of waste for energy recover? What is a Waste Transformer? and General guidelines for handling the different waste streams, among others.
Participants including the Waste Collection Management Association – WCMA, Chairman described the manual as a useful tool to further reenforce the knowledge of waste types, and the need for sorting among their members.
