PAY FOR WASTE COLLECTION

FOR the past few months, media reports have shown that our metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies have been finding it extremely difficult to cope with the management of waste generated by the populace.
The fact is that most of the assemblies do not have the capacity and equipment to manage the disposal of refuse.
They also do not have the funds to pay private waste management companies they have contracted to collect refuse at various points for disposal.
At the launch of the International Year of Sanitation in Accra last April, the Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, disclosed that four metropolitan assemblies — Accra, Shama-Ahanta East, Tema and Kumasi — owed waste collectors and other related service providers GH¢23.5 million as of December 2007.
Currently, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) alone is said to be owing private waste management contractors GH¢12.5 million, more than half the amount of money owed by the four metropolitan assemblies.
Following this development, some of the contractors have suspended their services, leading to the accumulation of garbage and the creation of filthy surroundings in sections of the affected cities.
Besides, the inability of the assemblies to pay the waste management contractors is a great disincentive to the contractors and also against the government’s policy of encouraging the private sector to take up waste management as a business.
Various markets in our metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies are now engulfed in filth as a result of rubbish pile-ups.
The refuse heaps at the Kaneshie, Odorkor, Teshie-Nungua, Agbogbloshie and Adabraka markets in Accra; Central, Asafo and Bantama markets in Kumasi, and the main roundabout and Kwesimintsim markets in Takoradi, indeed pose a health hazard to the traders and residents of those areas.
Just yesterday, an official of the Environmental Protection Agency warned that an epidemic would hit Accra soon if the accumulation of garbage in sections of the metropolis was not halted.
He was emphatic that when this happened, the AMA was to be held responsible.
Unlike the past when many residents in Accra for instance paid nothing to dispose of household rubbish, for some years now designated companies have taken up the responsibility of waste collection and management for a fee.
While the system has been designed such that residents would contribute to paying for the services of the designated companies, in practice majority of such residents do not pay any fees.
There is also the large population of commuters who visit Accra daily. They include traders in foodstuffs and hawkers who by the nature of their trade, create a lot of refuse, but they do not contribute anything towards the collection and management of what they create. No wonder the AMA and other assemblies are overwhelmed by the cost involved in cleaning up their administrative areas.
It is in view of this development that the proposed Polluter-Pays Principle should be given the needed impetus. It is also timely that the Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment has reopened the debate on the system, advocating its adoption in view of the increasing financial burden of waste management on the government. (See back page story.)
As the minister pointed out, environmental sanitation should not be the burden of only the city authorities. It indeed requires the collective effort of all. What is required is discipline in waste disposal by all, along with environmental cleanliness and the preparedness to pay for an efficient waste collection and management service.