A Strategy for Sustainable Solid Waste Management Procedures in Accra, Ghana
Emil Takyi
A Strategy for Sustainable Solid Waste Management Procedures in Accra, Ghana
| “…It is about time a sanitation policy for Accra and Ghana is formulated. Waste treatment and recycling is now the order of the day elsewhere but sadly mismanagement of landfill sites with no recycling is the sanitation feature of Accra and Ghana as a whole. The landfill site at Oblogo, near Mallam is a health threat to the residents of Oblogo and its environs…” (2005 Public Agenda extract)
Indiscriminate waste disposal in Accra creates serious health and environmental problems which leads to disastrous conditions. The devastation of lives and properties during flooding in Accra has partly been attributed to the accumulation of solid wastes which blocks the drainage channels. The ineffectiveness of the traditional municipal solids waste management practices which impact adversely on the health and environmental condition of the residents of Accra has prompted the need to find contextual solutions to the waste management problems. This study therefore serves an opportunity to assess the present management system and analyses the need to delineate a management framework that would be critical to effective implementation of waste management procedures in Ghana. By making use of waste generation and management data, the study attempts to present an argument that a management framework would enable AMA to initiate and implement a strategy that would help achieve sustainable goals. Here, the study attempts to justify the need to unite management options in an integrated strategy since the opportunity and associated benefits for the practice exist in Accra’s context of waste composition and characteristics. The study reviews the waste management system in the developed nations by focussing on the practice in the city of Cambridge. This approach serves as an attempt to identify and draw transferable lessons which may fit the context of Accra municipal solid waste. Key words: Municipal Solid Recycling, Waste fractions, Integrated Solid Waste Management |