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Jekora Ventures Limited (JVL) has won the prestigious SEED 2021 Low Carbon Award for its Briquette and Compost Production at the JVL-YKMA Recycling Plant.

The company was recognized for converting source-separated food waste from local markets, faecal sludge from public and private toilets, wood waste, and rice husk from the mills to produce compost and briquette as a soil amendment and low-cost alternative fuelwood respectively for food, energy, and cleaner environment.

Eco-Inclusive Impact
The facility, which is an innovative Public-Private Partnership between JVL and the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly, processes up to 1,800 tonnes of organic solid waste and up to 5,000 cubic meters of faecal sludge to produce up to 200 tonnes of compost and up to 1,000 tonnes of low-cost fuel briquettes annually. Thus, contributing to better waste management and sanitation in the Yilo Krobo Municipality, supporting landfill lifetime, raising awareness on waste segregation at source and waste-to-income to local communities, and reducing high dependence on wood and charcoal and their negative impact on forest resources.

Circular Economic Model
Operating on a self-financing circular economic business model, which is easy to replicate, locally-led, and proven use of low-cost and appropriate technologies, the plant is a promising model to radically transform waste management from a public service into a green commercial enterprise, producing goods and delivering services under regulation by economic market forces.

Partners
Jekora Ventures Ltd, the managing partner of the facility is a trailblazer in waste valorization interfacing academia and business to commercialize products of research through Public-Private Partnerships for sustainable development; providing working capital and technical expertise.

Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly, the non-managing partner of the facility is a local governance entity ready and willing to share risk with the private sector to promote environmentally friendly and sustainable waste management solutions for local economic development.

International Water Management Institute (IWMI) led the CapVal project under which this Public-Private Partnership was established. The business model applies a concept developed by IWMI and partners from years of scientific research. IWMI’s main role is to provide technical support through scientific research.
The JVL-YKML enterprise is supported through its partnerships with various stakeholders, ranging from national and international organizations, investors, research institutes, suppliers, governmental bodies, NGOs, other social and environmental enterprises, and more.

The Seed Award
The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual awards scheme designed to identify the most innovative and promising locally-led start-up eco-inclusive enterprises in developing and emerging economies.
South Africa and Uganda joined Ghana through JVL to supersede over 1,000 applicants to win this year’s prestigious SEED 2021 Low Carbon Award.

SEED was founded as part of a global partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
By winning this award JVL has gained international recognition for innovating eco-friendly business models for socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable products and services.