Abstract
Conventional solid waste management protocols and thinking generally tend to assume that waste already exits and therefore needs to be managed. Consequently, most models of solid waste management, especially in the developing countries including Ghana, are simply reactions to the presence of something that needs to be disposed of or discarded. This paper sees this conventional solid waste management philosophy as a potential barrier to an efficient and sustainable management and argues that adopting an integrated systemic approach will both help to control the processes that generate waste (including waste handling and utilization) and enable city managers to minimize waste generation in the first place. This paper uses a project initiated by a community-based organization in Ga Mashie (Accra) to explore the potential of converting household waste into a resource. Adopting a multiple research methodology, the study analyzes the characteristic and composition of waste generated within communities in Accra. The results show that a greater part of the ‘waste’ is recyclable or potentially recyclable and that a well-coordinated recycling programme will not only ensure a huge reduction of waste volume, but can equally lengthen the life of existing dumpsites and possibly, create wealth and reduce poverty. The paper argues that scaling up the project offers the local authority an opportunity to tap into the innovative strengths embedded in the project, particularly its physical and economic synergies, which may bolster community sustainable development.
Highlights
Conventional solid waste management protocols and thinking generally tend to assume that waste already exits and needs to be managed
In the case of the Youth Engagement in Service delivery (YES) project, which is an example of community participation in solid waste management (SWM), the study shows that each participating household is encouraged to separate both recyclables and nonrecyclables
Some of the recyclables are sold directly at the household level to prospective itinerant waste buyers who roam the community on daily basis, while the mixed waste and organic materials are collected by the trained community waste pickers for a fee
Summary
“To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.”. In countries where efficient solid waste management (SWM) policies have been instituted, including effective waste collection, segregation, transportation, storing, treatment and disposal, ‘waste’ is economically re-circulated (Medina 2005; Sternberg 2013) In such situations, SWM is seen as a necessary process to promote health and environmental safety, and as presenting an opportunity to mine the largely untapped resources embedded in waste. There are enough evidence showing that historically, communities have been resourceful to use waste as food for animals, fertilizer and as materials for second life products (Wilson et al 2006) These studies point to a vibrant waste enterprise, devoid of policy or legislative, often tedious, unhygienic, unrecognized and potentially hazardous, whose contributions are rarely documented or quantified. The study benefitted immensely from earlier works, which engage with the challenges of managing waste in lowincome communities (Huober 2010; Matter et al 2013)
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