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Solid waste disposal in Ghana: Regional annex [Quality Assurance: Andrew Cotton]

Author(s): Mensah, Anthony  |  Larbi, Eugene  |  Cotton, Andrew

Publisher: WEDC
Place of publication: Loughborough University, UK
Year: 2005

Series: WELL Fact Sheet
Collection(s): WELL

Links:

• http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/wedc/well/

This fact sheet seeks to assess the solid waste disposal (SWD) situation in Ghana and to identify prospects for improvement focusing on remediation of dumpsites and sanitary landfills. The key problems with solid waste disposal in Ghana principally relate to:

• Problems with indiscriminate dumping;
• Increasing difficulties with acquiring suitable disposal sites;
• Difficulties with conveyance of solid waste by road due to worsening traffic problems and the lack of alternative transport options; and
• The weak demand for composting as an option for waste treatment and disposal.

Generally the poor state of waste management is clearly not only an engineering problem. Rapid urbanization, poor financing capacity of local authorities, low technical capacity for planning and management of solid waste, weak enforcement of environmental regulations – which allow local authorities to flout environmental regulations without any sanctions - have all contributed to compound the problem. The Ghanaian experience shows that within the existing socio-economic context, manual systems are appropriate. The challenge therefore is to develop and promote disposal systems that require a minimum level of mechanical equipment.

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