Waste Management in Ghana

Like in many other African countries, Ghana has a major difficulty in managing domestic and industrial waste in whatever form it may take. This is commonly an issue in big cities especially, where the population is great. Unlike cities in the developed world like in America and Europe and other places, the cities in Ghana are setup differently. These ranges from the way settlements are constructed to the way markets and businesses are setup. And the way these cities are set up and run contribute to serious waste management challenges. For instance most of the markets in Ghana are open-air markets where people sit under tress, canopies, giant umbrellas and other forms of shades to do business (mostly trade in ). More often than not waste management facilities like trash bins, toilet and urinary facilities in these market are either not available or in a bad state for use. Faced with situations as this, people resort to indiscriminate ways of disposing off waste.

            Other factor that contributes to making waste management an issue in Ghana is the increase usage of plastic materials. In Ghana distilled water is sold in sachets popularly known as  “pure water” consumed mostly at home, on the streets and at work are hawked on the streets.  It turns out that a lot of the empty plastic bags that are left after the water in them is consumed find their way in the gutters and bushes along the streets. Drainage problems are created by lots of liquid and solid wastes trapped in gutters and pits and one common resultant effect is frequent flooding that takes lives and livelihoods.

The situation described above presents a small picture of a big situation that cannot really be discussed in great detail, at least not for the purpose this discussion.

            As expected, households do their best to keep their houses clean but not the streets. In this way, most households put all their waste together and deposit them at small satellite locations. This is then collected by waste collection contractors and dumped at the main disposal sites which are normally abandoned sand and stone quarries, without any treatment, covering or adequate effluent management plans.

The result is sites with bad odour, breeding grounds for disease carrying flies and bacteria, and serving as sources of pollution to adjacent and underground water bodies. The sites become methane-producing sources and are environmentally unfriendly because the methane produced is allowed to dissipate directly into the environment adding to the build up of Green House Gases (GHG’s).

            Several governments have tried to come up with strategies to manage waste in the country and some of the best waste management practices adopted so far include the production of biogas from human liquid waste. Biogas consists of methane and CO₂, which are the result of an anaerobic fermentation process, during which all disease causing bacteria are destroyed. The gas produced is either be used for power production or other localized applications. Secondly, the establishment of plants to recycle plastic waste has over the last few years helped reduced the amount of plastic thrown on the streets. Waste plastic bags are collected by people heaped in large quantities weighed and sold to the few recycle companies in the country.

            With these measures already put in place to arrest this problem of waste management, I put forward the following more suggestions to help further tackle the problem. First of all, Ghana government should show commitment in putting in place appropriate mechanisms and infrastructure for the proper treatment and disposal of waste. Household and industries should be encouraged and educated to get ready to absorb the cost of proper waste disposal.  Regulatory institutions should also enforce legislature on waste preparation, treatment and disposal.