Over the last decade, specific emphasis has been placed on the sustainable use of environmental resources.
Most countries, both developing and developed, recognize that waste management is an issue of national concern to safeguard human health and the environment.
To address the issue of waste and its associated challenges, various international summits, including the 1992 Rio Summit and Agenda 21, have come up with internationally recognized principles for effective waste management, which includes reduction, recycling, reuse, safe collection, transportation and disposal.
According to the European Union (EU), under the Waste Framework Directive any unwanted or undesired material or substance that the holder discards or intends to discard can be described as waste. It is also referred to as rubbish, trash, garbage or junk depending upon the type of material and the regional terminology.
However, experts say it is very difficult to define waste since “items that some people discard have value to others.”
Currently in Ghana, private organisations that are championing the ‘Keep Ghana Clean’ campaign have ventured into waste management projects with Zoomlion Ghana limited to complement the efforts of Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies (MMDAs) who have embarked on various initiatives.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) recently announced a fee-based solid waste refuse collection system, which took effect at the beginning of February 2010.
The house-to-house collection service, which attracts a minimal fee, is expected to absorb huge refuse that is generated by households and organisations.
Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) has pledged its support to the Fee-Based Solid Waste Refuse Collection arrangement.
ESPA also noted that it lacked capital to start the programme.
Evans Ewudzie Arthur, spokesperson for ESPA, called on stakeholders to educate Ghanaians in order to sensitize people to ensure the sustainability of the programme.
At the national level, a National Framework for Waste Management partially exist in the country, but the 1992 Constitution has no provision on the right of citizens to clean the environment.
A drive through some parts of the country shows heaps of waste in places like markets and along ceremonial roads and other important places.
Waste causes many negative impacts on the environment and society.
For example, food waste or sewage can cause a number of problems, including the emission of green house gases.
It also contributes to the pollution of water bodies such as the Odaw River in Accra, which has many sachets from purified water.
This is a clear example of how littering and indiscriminate disposal of waste can destroy water bodies in the country. While water packaging companies make a lot of profits, the sachets end up on the streets.
This development has contributed to the increasing poverty in our country, as people have to spend a lot of money on their health while the nation looses the needed human resource.
It is obvious that the consequences of waste on the environment and human health would slow the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
The collection, treatment and disposal of waste would also reduce the negative impacts on the environment and society.
A study conducted by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment revealed that despite the presence of many waste contractors in the country, more than 50 percent of the waste generated in cities such as Tema, Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi were not collected.
Naa Demedeme, Director at the Sanitation Unit of the Ministry, in an interview, disclosed that the greatest problem facing the nation was inaccurate statistic since “it is difficult to identify the quantity of waste generated in any part of the country.”
“Based on the assumption that every individual generates about 0.5 kilograms per day, the figure can be multiplied by the total population to generate the quantity of waste in the country,” he added.
Households, industries and commercial activities in the country generate a lot of waste, but indications are that majority of these people get rid of their trash through illegal means.
Many private and public lands are being used as dumping sites. People pack black polythene bags and dump them anywhere without thinking about health implications.
Those who indulge in this kind of illegal dumping of waste claimed that domestic waste collection services provided by private companies, popularly known as “door-to door” usually charge outrageous money, causing people to wake up at dawn to dump waste in the streets.
In Ghana, waste collectors dump refuse at land fill sites and the situation has caused residents in such communities to protest on countless occasions against the dumping of waste in their vicinity.
In developed countries, waste is recycled by resorting to physical and biological reprocessing.
Five recycling companies have mushroomed in Ghana and if they are supported the problems associated with waste would be minimized.
Others are advocating the Polluter Pays Principle, which would require the polluting party to pay for the destruction of the environment.
The campaigners want waste generators to pay for appropriate disposal of waste that are generated from their activities, with special focus on the industrial community.
However, it is unfortunate that though this campaign has been ongoing for some time now, no major feat has been chalked and it is obvious that with time frustration would set in.
Under the Urban Environment Sanitation Project (UESP) of the World Bank support programme, the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development is undertaking a pilot project with some selected schools to pick water sachets, which would be bought by recycling companies.
Indeed, economical value can be attached to waste, but the problem of sorting waste into the various components must be addressed.
Containers for disposing paper, plastic, bottles and the other types of waste must be placed at vantage points in the city and in other parts of the country for proper material separation.
Waste management companies have not been able to deliver effectively in the country, but this situation has caught the attention of Parliament, which has called for the passage of a law to control and standardize the operations service providers.
Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, disclosed that “the Ministry is serious about the collection and transportation of waste in the country.”
“Monitoring, collection and dumping of waste by Assemblies at land fill sites are messy and too discriminatory. We are not happy about the current state of affairs,” he said.
He also indicated that the Ministry would ask MMDAs to hold training sessions for the contractors to promote the efficient collection and transportation of waste.
Members of Parliament (MPs) called on government to support companies that were engaged in recycling and re-use of waste in the country, noting, “We appeal to manufacturing industries in the country to use recyclable materials and bio-degradable items for production.
They have therefore asked the Ministry to embark on a nationwide campaign to educate the general public on the need to prevent waste.
