The
Caritas Ghana, the Charity wing of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference
(GCBC), has held a roundtable meeting with partners to prepare the grounds for
the implementation of the E-Waste project.
The
Caritas E-Waste ‘Care for our Common Home’ project, launched in October 2017,
was in response to calls by Pope Francis in his second encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ and GCBC for immediate action
to address electronic waste and ultimately help preserve earth.
Mr.
Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary, Department of Human Development/
Caritas Ghana, explained the purpose of the meeting, to get to know the
companies expressing interest to partner in the E-Waste project and agree on
the next step towards a possible cooperation.
He
also presented the concept note of the project to the partners, and invited
them to submit proposals of interest, which will possibly lead to bilateral
dialogue on building synergies on areas of value addition, as well as the contracting
phase of the project.
The
companies present at the meeting included, City Waste, Closing the Loop and
Atlantic Phones, took turns to explain their work in relation to electronic
waste management and expressed interest in partnering with Caritas on the project.
Each
of the company representative clarified the nuances and risk involved in the
collection of e-waste products, especially phones, laptops, the processes and
procedures involved in removing the various parts and export of other
components.
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| The Participants at the meeting |
Very
Rev. Fr. Lazarus Anondee, Secretary General of the National Catholic
Secretariat (NCS), who welcomed the partners to the meeting, noted that the
Project was inspired by the Pope Francis’ encyclical: Laudato Si with particular reference to the content of paragraph 21
(LS21).
The
Church, he explained would continue dialoguing, with various stakeholders
including the Government, Corporate organisation, among others to explore the best
way of working together to address the e-waste menace in the country.
He also donated copies of the
Laudato Si to the representatives of the companies and encouraged them to
read in order to support efforts to save our common home
