The closure of landfill sites in the Greater Accra Region in Ghana has resulted in large amounts of uncollected garbage in the city.

Currently only the Kpong landfill site and Zoomlion Compost site operating, while the Abokobi, Achimota and Saba landfill sites have been closed down.

Robert Coleman, Public Relations Manager for Zoomlion, told the Ghana News Agency that all waste management companies in the Greater Accra Region had been affected by the absence of landfill sites and were battling with where to dump the garbage they collect. He said that despite the challenges and dangers uncollected waste pose, the pressure on these two landfill sites means there is not much waste management agencies can do.

According to Coleman, only 50 % of the 2 500 metric tonnes of waste generated daily can be collected. He said the situation is being compounded by the absence of the landfill sites. Coleman said the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development are thinking of building a world class engineered landfill sites. However this would be a long-term solution, and there is a need for a transfer station to serve as a holding point in the interim.

Debt problems

The Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) has said that the increasing uncollected refuse is due to its members not being able to operate at full capacity because they have too much debt. It said the Kpone Landfill Site particularly is owed a lot.

“ESPA is calling on the government to, as a matter of urgency, pay outstanding debts to the landfill operators to enable them bring some life into their business, and rid the country of mounting garbage, which now threatens the health of Ghanaians,” said Ama Ofori-Antwi, Executive Secretary of the ESPA.