Accra Waste Management Gets Boost

A WASTE management firm has commenced a pilot project to turn Accra’s liquid waste into useful resource for national development.

The firm, Slamson Ghana Limited is collaborating with Zoomlion Ghana, a waste management giant to turn human excreta which hitherto had been dumped into the sea into manure for agricultural development.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on environment and Deputy Minister of Health, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo visited the site popularly called Lavender Hill in Accra on Friday to get first hand information about the process.

Frederik Sunesson, Managing Director of Slamson Ghana Ltd who took the MPs around the facility said recovering resources for future development was crucial.

He said this was the latest technology that would ensure the nation’s resources were not wasted saying “We should be able to treat majority of our waste for future development.”

“Managing Ghana’s resources for the benefit of the people has been a major challenge but there is an opportunity to use this technology to improve waste management in the cities.”

Mr. Mettle-Nunoo for his part said waste systems in the cities had not been properly connected to the sewage systems and that was making it difficult for city authorities to manage waste.

“Liquid waste has become a major challenge for the country particularly the cities and we should not forget that when we fail to take steps to manage it carefully we are likely to experience an epidemic as it happened in Europe and other areas in the 1960s.”

He said the time had come for city authorities to build more pumping stations to handle liquid waste and take action against food vendors who were preparing food under insanitary conditions.

Dominic Azumah, MP for Garu Timpane and leader of the parliamentary delegation said it was commendable that the city authorities had decided to control the dumping of waste in the city.

Maxwell Kofi Jumah, MP for Asokwa who was part of the delegation said turning liquid waste into productive ventures particularly agriculture would enhance prospects of the sector.