Vases, drinking glasses, or even bowls of various sizes, the articles of this small factory in the town of Krobo-Odumase are made from glass waste.
Michael Tetteh founded the family business over ten years ago. He is one of the only certified hot glassblowers in the country.”We collect waste glasses, bottles, shutter glasses, and television screens in Accra. We bring them here and then we recycle them, I have workers, they sort them, they wash them well, we dry them, we smash them. We don’t pound them like fufu (a local food), but we crush them into small particles so that at least we can get a clear glass out of them.” explained Michael Tetteh, CEO, of Tetteh Glass Factory.
Tetteh explains that he uses several tons of glass waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
Tetteh designed and helped build almost all of his company’s equipment and machinery, including the kilns and annealer he uses to heat and cool his works.
Michael Tetteh revives a lost art in Ghana and creates a local industry of handmade glassware. He now sells his glass products in a shop focused on recycling.