The Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project in collaboration with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) has presented a Solid Waste Management Strategy developed for the seventeen (17) participating MMDAs to key stakeholders in the Greater Accra Region.
The strategy which was presented at a high-level workshop for top officials of Ministries, Departments and Agencies; and the Project beneficiary Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, seeks to improve solid waste collection and prevent littering in low- income communities along the Odaw River catchment.
Opening the workshop on behalf of the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, the Chief Director of the Ministry, Mr. Noah Tumfo, noted the Minister’s delight about the successful completion of the strategy and hope that the strategy will address the sanitation challenges in Accra and ultimately help achieve the President of Ghana’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
The strategy characterizes and maps municipal solid waste, assesses waste management systems, and outlines strategic improvement plan for solid waste management within the Odaw River catchment.
Notable among the waste management interventions outlined in the strategy is the need to rezone municipal solid waste collection franchise and assign non-performing areas, especially, low-Income communities to Informal Service Providers who are known to be contributing immensely to solid waste management in the Municipalities. It was recommended that the GARID Project and the Ministry take steps to register, organize, integrate, and provide equipment and capacity building supports to the Informal Waste Service Providers to enhance waste collection and litter management in GAMA.
Provision of sites to support the construction of buy-back centres in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area also came up strongly as one of the key interventions that can enhance Solid Waste Management in Accra. The strategy recommends the sensitization of residents of GAMA on the importance of waste separation at source and sale of the reusable waste to the buy-back centres to be established in the Municipalities.
The Chief Director for the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI), Mrs. Cynthia Asare Bediako, commended the GARID Project and the Sanitation Ministry for coming out with the Solid Waste Management Strategy. She announced that the Strategy will provide useful information for MESTI’s plastic waste program. She entreated all stakeholders present to ensure successful implementation of the strategy.
Stakeholders present assured the Ministry and the GARID Project of their readiness to support with successful implementation of the strategy.