Urban waste management problems and challenges: the way forward

Waste management has become contemporary issue on the memo of several governments especially among countries that are suffering from the dependency syndrome. Governments, development partners and Non-governmental Organisations incessantly allot sizeable amount of financial and technical resources in a form of grant and services in addressing urban waste management problems and challenges in developing economies. In many countries, skirmishing poor environmental sanitation/ waste management is wearisome as the basic approaches to decipher and combat the root cause of this communal canker are not meticulously adhered to and applied accordingly. Municipal budget on management of waste is likely to take about 40% out of the total budgetary allocation to the entire municipality by central government to implement the three year medium term development plans. Despite the organisation of workshops and seminars; publication and presentation of research papers on waste management; establishment of NGOs in waste management; introduction of waste management as undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in most universities, and establishment of institutions to deal with waste management as well as the presence of environmental sanitation policies; urban waste management problems continue to pose threats to the sustainability of urban areas. It appears to give the impression that the results of all the policy interventions have turned out to be oblivion. Is there anything wrong with development policies regarding environmental sanitation? Is it that financial resources are not adequate to fight the phenomenon? Are our politicians not committed to fighting this problem? Or perhaps, the problems and challenges of urban waste management emanate from weak institutional arrangements?

Some governments in developing countries continue to release gigantic financial resources into fighting waste management problems especially in the cities. Several stakeholder consultative meetings are frequently held to find lasting functional solutions to waste management problems and challenges. Rapid urbanisation process of countries is the root cause of all the many problems and challenges in waste management. Developing economies such as Ghana has nothing to show of regarding waste management achievement. In Ghana, cities such as Sekondi-Takoradi, Tema, Kumasi, Tamale and Accra are filled with so much filth with the latter being the worst hit by the phenomenon. The rate at which heaps of solid wastes are being grouped on the principal streets of the cities is alarming and devastating. One cannot boast of Accra as primate city due to wastes the city is grappling with. Kumasi once referred to as the garden city has now turned out to be “waste city”. Sekondi-Takoradi being referred to as twin and oil city in public cycles has now also turned into “waste city”. Partly to be blame for the current waste management problems and challenges in the cities are the politicians, and perhaps individuals. One might be tempted to say that, Metro, Municipals and Districts (MMDAs) are not doing enough to deal with the problem. Lack of prioritisation of development needs or interventions have woefully caused most governments a lot of funds. The daily news on cholera epidemic in the cities especially Accra is as a result of poor environmental sanitation. We shall continue to enforce sanitation bye-laws, build sanitation court, construct drains, and construct KVIPs, among others without achieving the goals of these interventions if the interventions are not prioritised. Additionally, there are traditional approaches to address the problems and challenges of urban waste management in Ghana and other developing countries.

Firstly, government must understand the concept, dynamics and complexities of waste management problems and challenges. Waste management involves generation, primary storage, primary collection, transportation, secondary storage, treatment and recycling. However, governments in developing economies tailor interventions towards secondary storage, transportation and treatment components of waste management. In Ghana, government has not put into place effective policy measures to address the waste management problems and challenges. On the principal streets of the cities in Ghana, municipal wastes are not uncommon. Institutions that are mandated by government to deal with waste management only procure equipments for collection and transport, construct tiny drains as if there are no drainage plans for our cities, construct engineered landfill sites for growing cities, among others as the means to solve waste management problems. It is indispensable to reiterate and underscore on how waste management as a concept works. If government understands this phenomenon; prioritisation of waste management interventions such as drawing of drainage master plans for cities and small towns, preparation of affordable housing schemes for low and middle income earners that will incorporate sanitation issues in the building plan, preparation of solid waste management plan in terms of permanent storage and treatment, etc would be the maiden interventions to be considered before any other interventions.

Another traditional strategy of meeting the growing challenge of managing waste in urban areas is the adoption of communication and behaviour change method. This strategy has been relegated to the background by sanitation experts and government. Unless there is realignment of attitudes and behaviour of people towards waste management, cities would enduringly be grappling with the menace of poor waste management. It is therefore germane that sanitation officers, governments, NGOs and other stakeholders educate urban communities to have radical change of attitude and behaviour towards the disposal of waste. If urban managers including planners, engineers, environmental officers, health workers, among others relentlessly educate people not to throw waste haphazardly but resort to the appropriate means of disposing waste, the problem of waste management would be a thing of the past. About 80% of the waste management problems in urban communities of Ghana are due to poor attitude and behaviour of people. The motive behind this attitude is to create mayhem. Until Ghanaians change their attitude of indiscriminate disposal of waste, the country would not achieve any results from waste management interventions.

Also, a way forward to addressing urban waste management problems and challenges is the revision of decentralisation policy. Despite the fact that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been mandated by Local Government Act to manage waste at their areas of jurisdiction, it is not still good enough. The looming crises in managing waste in small towns is due to lack of empowerment of Sub district Structures such as Assembly members, Unit Committees, Area Council, Zonal Council among others. It’s unfortunate that sub-district structures in Ghana are not effective and efficient in delivering their mandates due to lack of financial resources. Local Governments should decentralise some of its responsibilities and powers to communities through their leaders. In that way, community leaders as well as the communities involved become semi-autonomous. As these communities are granted more powers to operate, the issue of waste management will no longer be the burden of local governments but the communities. Each community with financial support from local government will then know the best strategies to put in place to address waste management problems.

Finally, to save the urban areas from being plunged into turmoil because of waste, there is the need for introduction of “pay as you generate for residential” and “pay as we collect for commercial” mechanisms to be developed in financing urban waste infrastructure. This system should be contracted to local private contractors to handle. In addition, it is not enough to educate the people not to arbitrarily dispose of waste, but proper skip containers should be placed at vantage points to serve residents. It is no work done if we do not have enough skip containers to accommodate the amount of waste generated by residents.

It is therefore expedient for governments in developing countries to deal with the root cause of waste management problems rather than focusing on palliative measures. Urban authorities should prioritise their waste management interventions; explore alternative ways of financing waste management infrastructure; revise decentralisation policy to give more powers to sub-district structures to operate; and implement communication and behavioural change support projects. All these will help Ghana as well as other developing countries to achieve MDGs.