Ghana to develop waste management culture

Dr Bob Offei Manteaw, Director of Research, Innovation and Development at African Institute of Sanitation and Waste Management (AISWAM), says the National Waste Bin Distribution Programme (NawaBin), would develop a new culture of waste Management.

He said the launch was timely and much needed intervention in waste and sanitation management in Ghana, especially at a time when communities are facing unprecedented public health challenges.

Dr Manteaw made this known in an interview with Ghana News in Accra after the launched of the NaWaBin project.

He said the NawaBin, was a great example of a Public-Private-Partnership that would see Government, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and private sector interests work together to distribute free waste receptacles for household use across the country.

According to him, the objective of the project is to eventually, and within the shortest possible time, provide each household with a free waste bin.

He noted that by all indications it is a very commendable initiative that needs the support of government and stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the programme, which is a much needed intervention that should go beyond just the collection of waste to inculcate a new culture of waste and sanitation management at both the household and public levels.

Dr Manteaw said the institute reported that the source of country’s sanitation problems could be linked to the lack of proper management practices at the household levels, which worsens the situation in public places.

He said: “When people lack culture and a routine of properly managing waste at the individual and household levels they take such attitudes into the public.”

Dr Manteaw said the NawaBin project would bring relief to households which could not afford the waste bins, adding: “When bins are in close proximity and accessible people will use them.”

According to him the attitudinal and behavioural change component of the initiative is critical and AISWAM interest is to study, monitor and evaluate household and public responses to the use of the bins.

Dr Manteaw said: “Undoubtedly, a national waste bin distribution programme that is consciously undertaken with key targets is commendable and has the potential to significantly impact the sanitation challenges that various communities face.”

He said the key challenge, particularly in Accra, Tema and Kumasi Metropolis is the identification and acquisition of land sizeable enough to design a future-looking engineered landfills.

He said it is a problem that requires urgent government support for private sector players to seek solutions.

He said research from AISWAM, indicates that final disposal sites rank as the foremost challenges in urban waste management in African growing cities.

“It is important, as we develop a new culture of waste management to consider the economic, social and environmental advantages that come with value addition to the waste we generate.

“We can continue to generate waste and just dump them but there is need to take advantage of the different opportunities that waste brings,” he said.