GETTING RID OF OUR WASTE-MY TAKE!!

The headlines in the past week have once again thrown the spotlight on the filth that Accra, ‘our millennium city’ has been engulfed in. From heaps of uncollected waste, choked gutters to overburdened waste disposal sites, the story of Accra’s filth knows no abatement at least for a significant number of years to come if planning is not done.

 The waste problem that confronts Accra is only a segment of larger problem that urbanization brings. The Population of Accra per the last census stood over three million people with a potential to further grow going forward due to the rapid urbanisaiton the city is undergoing. The current waste (solid waste) generated in Accra stands at a staggering 2000Mt per day out of which the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and its private partners are barely able to collect half. The story of liquid waste is even more pathetic, does lavender hill ring a bell?

The term ‘waste collection’, which is most often used to describe the manner we handle waste epitomizes the casualness we attach to this very important problem. Waste is not just collected but it is supposed to be MANAGED!!!.If waste is not managed, the sort of problems Accra faces is what happens.

Let us now see how Accra’s waste can be managed and not collected from my small point of view.

First of all, the talk must cease and action mode activated. It is shocking to note that, even waste issues are politicised in Ghana. Whether party A or B did better or worse in solving Accra’s waste problem, the verdict is out there and unfortunately it favours neither side. So therefore, it is only wise to look at the waste problem in an objective critical manner because it is the only way that headway can be made in ridding Accra of the filth that so often embarrasses all of us.

The next important step involves all of us. We must have a paradigm shift about how we take responsibility for the waste we generate individually. It is nobody’s job to be responsible for the waste you generate. It is not uncommon to find someone drop waste in a public place and when confronted, the most likely answer that will follow will be ‘oh, the zoomlion people will come and take it’.

Sadly, that is the attitude that has been cultivated in most of our people for a very long time and every effort must be made to educate our people especially the younger ones to take personal responsibility for the waste they generate.

There are several ways to take responsibility for the waste we generate and I will enumerate a few.

Waste should be disposed properly. We should endeavor never to throw or dispose waste (polythene, containers etc) at places that are not designated for such purposes. In helping individuals to properly dispose waste, the city authorities must provide segregated waste collection points and encourage people to use them. When this is done it will go a long way to improve the waste collection aspect of waste management.

The catchphrase that should be on the lips and minds of all should be REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.

By REDUCE, we are supposed to reduce the waste that we generate in our daily activities both at work and at home.

You can significantly reduce the amount of waste you create by selecting what rubbish you throw away. We should always buy the things we need, we will avoid unnecessary waste by not buying items we rarely use or may need.

When we go to our favourite ‘waakye’ joint, we can send a reusable bowl instead of buying our food in a single use polythene bag which will inevitably find its way onto the nearby gutter immediately you finish eating from it.

By REUSE, we are supposed to patronize items that can be used over and over again instead of those that have only single use. For example, we can choose to buy bottled items instead of cans. There are numerous reuse ideas on the internet that we can assess on how to reuse items such as plastic bottles, cartons, etc. These ideas can be fun ways of family competitions and will definitely sharpen the creative side of yourself as well as your kids whilst significantly cutting down on the items you may regard as waste.

By RECYCLING,we are supposed to convert old waste items to new reusable items and this is where the authorities must step up to the plate and give the needed impetus in setting up functioning recycling plants. Individually, we should look out for products/items that are produced from recyclable materials to buy.When we do that,we contribute to the sustainability of recycling companies.

Another area the government should do more is the creation of landfill sites, here, in our Ghana, i am afraid but what we have are dumping sites not landfill sites because the latter is engineered to properly hold waste without significantly affecting those who work there and the host communities. Here too, the knowledge is in abundance, so the question, why? It is not about money, it is about how serious we want to deal with the waste we generate.

The government/private sector should not see waste as just waste but rather a highly valuable resource that could be utilized to produce valuable products notably energy and compost. The knowledge for such ventures already exists, what we need to do is seek that knowledge and implement it.

It might interest you to know that Sweden, the Scandinavian nation of more than 9.5 million has run out of garbage for their waste-to-energy program. And although this may seem like a positive — even enviable — predicament for a country to be facing, Sweden has been forced to import trash from its neighbor, Norway.You see, Swedes are big on waste diversion. Between recycling (36%) and composting (14%), they divert half of their waste. Only 4 percent of all waste generated in the country is landfilled.

The remaining 40 or so percent goes to their waste-to-energy incineration program which heats and provides electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes; but it’s not enough to meet energy demands, which means they’ve started looking outside their own borders.

The swedes are not superhuman, they are just like you and me just that they sat to think, plan, execute, monitor, evaluate and improve.

If we are to get our cities free from stinking waste, we must be prepared to think as they say, outside the box. It is Possible!!!

By:Kofi Konadu Boateng

edkoboat@hotmail.com.

Twitter-  @kkonaduboat

This piece is a precursor to a piece I am writing on the impacts Accra’s rapid urbanization will have on its environment and how to manage the negatives. Stay tuned!!