Waste Management in Accra, Ghana

Three Main Problems Contributing to Environmental Decay

May 30, 2009

In Accra, the Capital of Ghana, there are three main issues contributing to an enormous waste problem: privatization, rural to urban migration, and a strong urban bias.

Accra is the capital of the African nation of Ghana, and is also the administrative and economic centre of the entire nation. Ghana is located on the western “horn” of Africa, and the city has to contend with developmental issues that are familiar to virtually all developing nations world wide.

Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA)

The city of Accra, otherwise known as the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) is subdivided into three municipalities; Accra, Tema, and the outlying semi-urban district of Ga. All three of these regions are closely integrated with the core of the city.

The population of Accra is approximately 1.9 million inhabitants, and has been growing at a high annual rate of 4% since 1984. This is an incredibly high rate of growth, especially when compared to a developed nation such as Canada which has an annual growth rate of roughly 0.88%. This rapid growth of the city has only hindered the increasingly difficult task of waste management in Accra.

There are three critical elements of the waste disposal system of Accra, which inherently hinder the efficient and equitable removal of the city’s waste. These elements are: Privatization, Rural to Urban Migration patterns, and the Urban Bias theory.

Privatization of Waste Removal

The privatization of waste removal in Accra is a serious issue; while advocates of privatization claim that for-profit systems increases efficiency, opponents of this program point out that private firms do not bother to repair inadequate infrastructure in poorer townships and instead prefer to focus on areas that yield higher profits.

This results in an a large amount of trash being poorly managed in the poorer and more rural townships due to a lack of infrastructure because these regions do not produce profits high enough to compete with the more urban and wealthier regions. As a result, companies put a much lower priority of upkeep and repair on these regions due to this lack of profit.

Rural to Urban Migration

The second issue, rural to urban migration, is a serious problem for waste management within Accra as well. For generations, migrant workers have traveled across Ghana in search of agricultural work, most notably in the cocoa fields.

However, with the decline of the cocoa industry in the 1980’s, most seasonal migrants from the north sought employment in the urban centers, such as Accra. This has led to rapid, but inadequate, development within the city of Accra to try and house these migrant workers.

In Accra for example, 77.5% of houses have toilets but only 30% have flush toilets and less than 20% have functioning indoor plumbing. Furthermore, economic disparity within Accra has resulted in 75% of the lowest per capita income earners having to share toilet facilities with 10 or more people in public latrines. This lack of plumbing has resulted in high volumes of waste being dumped into streets, and creating an obvious health problem within the city.

The Urban Bias Theory

Finally, the issue of urban bias continues to be problematic for the city of Accra. Waste collection or removal tends to be reserved for the wealthier citizens of Accra, because they are the only one’s who can afford it. From 1992 to the present, the poverty gap has widened in Accra and the percentage of those living under the poverty line fell from 1 in 10 in 1987, to almost 1 in 4 by 1995.

Poorer households are often not capable of paying for the removal of waste and only 60% of the population of Accra has regular waste collection; the result is piles of trash and waste simply sitting on the sides of roads and in ditches, potentially contaminating water and food sources.

Anarfi, John and Stephen Kwankye (2003). “Migration to and from Ghana: A Background Paper.” Issued by the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalization, and Poverty.

Pellow, D. (2002). And a Toilet for Everyone! In R. Mills-Tettey and K. Adi-Dako (Ed.), Visions of the City: Accra in the 21st Century, (pp134-144). Accra: Woeli Publishing Services.

UNHSP, United Nations Human Settlement Programme. (2003). Water and Sanitation in the World’s Cities, London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.

The copyright of the article Waste Management in Accra, Ghana in Poverty/World Development is owned by James Jackson. Permission to republish Waste Management in Accra, Ghana in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.