According to the World Economic Forum, plastic manufacturers plan to increase production by one third by 2025. Many places don’t have easily accessible recycling facilities to handle this increase. “I saw plastic pollution as a threat,” says Ernest Nartey-Tetteh, cofounder and COO of Eazywaste Ghana. He knew that people in low-income communities in Accra wanted to recycle, but the recycling plants were difficult for them to get to. “Why not take the recycling to them in their communities?” he asks. In 2018, Ernest and cofounder Bernard Brian Cudjoe participated in the Jobs for Youth program at the Ghana Innovation Hub, where they formally established Eazywaste Ghana and received technical advice. They also participated in the Orange Corners six-month acceleration program while refining their business model.

The company has since established community recycling plants in Takoradi and in the Ga West neighborhood of Accra, as well as seven pick-up points across Accra. It runs educational programs and pays a fixed per-kilo price for plastic. The company sorts the plastic, sells it to manufacturing plants and reinvests in the community by profit sharing. It is currently focused on implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and plans to open five plants in Ga West within the next three years. It is also developing an app that will allow high-income households to order home pick-up of their recycling.

Family and friends provided Eazywaste with its first funding and an inherited recycling machine. In 2018, it received seed funding from the Jobs for Youth program to support operations and, in February 2020, it received funding from the Orange Corners Innovation Fund to secure a new community recycling center in Amasaman.