GOV’T LAUNCHES NATIONAL WASTE SEGREGATION PROGRAMME

GOV’T LAUNCHES NATIONAL WASTE SEGREGATION PROGRAMME

By Mohammed Awal

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) has launched a National Waste Segregation Programme (NWSP) aimed at separating waste materials from source, to help improve efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery by waste management companies.

It will be done through the minimization of the amount of waste that is to be land filled and also to gain value from secondary raw materials.

Speaking at the NWSP launch in Accra on Thursday, the Executive Director of EPA, Mr. Daniel Amlalo said that the issues of solid waste management “is a challenge”, not only to developing countries but also to the “developed and well endowed.”

According to Mr. Amlalo, available statistics reveal that the per capita waste generation per person per day in Ghana is about 0.54kg. With a population of over 24 million people, approximately 12,960 tons of solid was being generated daily nationwide, he noted.

Again, he added that out of this quantum of waste generated daily by the nation, “only 60% is collected” and in “effect safe disposal remained a major challenge.”

Waste Recycling to fetch Ghana GH¢1.2b

To Mr. Amlalo, waste should be viewed as raw material for making economic gains, rather than merely waste material. 

According to him, a study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) reveal that the Ghana could make about GH¢1.2 billion per year if waste was effectively recycled.

Besides the cash, it would also create employment opportunities, he added. The agency, he revealed, was committed to the initiative of waste recycling and for organic manure production for agriculture and landscaping.

Way forward and Efforts

The way forward, Mr. Amlalo noted, should be “a clear paradigm shift from ‘use and throw’ to ‘reduction generation, reuse and recycling’ that is value addition.”

According to him, waste recycling has become a viable economic option in the country despite the considerable “cost of collection.”

EPA, he said, has over the years made various interventions towards sustainable waste management through the development and publication of waste management guidelines.

He further noted that together with MESTI ‘Plastic to Cash’, the programme was launched as a way of creating awareness on waste as an economic resource.

The programme, he said, promoted the segregation, reuse, recycle of waste at households levels. Papers, plastics, glasses, organic matter and metal, he added, were recycled to usable materials under the ‘Plastic for Cash’ programme.

Effective segregation of this waste, he noted, would help conserve resources, foreign exchange, extend the life span of land fill sites and also reduce the cost of waste management and protect the environment from pollution.

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Joe Oteng Adjei, in a speech read on his behalf by Dr. Sylvester Aminama, Chief Director MESTI said the NWSP would be implemented nationwide.

The first phase, he said, would commence in some selected schools and within the Ministry area in Accra.

He further added that the NWPS programme was a fulfillment of government’s national environmental policy in addressing the solid waste menace in the country, explaining that waste segregation “is an efficient and environmentally sustainable way of managing waste.

“It is envisaged to help reduce the amount of waste to be land filled and also to provide additional value from secondary raw materials which can be recycled into useful products to support economic  development,” he added.

Cost of waste collection weighing heavily on government resources

According to the Minster, cost of waste collection and disposal has been weighing hugely on financial resources of government.

Many Metropolitan and Municipal Assembles, he revealed, spend in excess of 60% of their financial resources on waste management, adding that “this leaves little for social and economic development projects”.

This, he said, necessitated the introduction of the “Polluter Pays Principle”, for people to contribute to pay for the collection and disposal of their daily waste.”