Sustainable Plastic Waste Management in Accra: The Role of the Stakeholder

Abstract

The problem of sustainable collecting and disposing of plastic waste in Accra has persisted for well over a decade. Plastic waste clogged-gutters, and plastic-littered streets in the national capital, Accra have indeed, portrayed the city as one of the most littered in the West African sub-region. To ameliorate the menace and environmental nuisance posed by plastic waste, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), through its Waste Management Department (WMD) has over the years, attempted to privatize municipal solid waste management services. This thesis examined the effectiveness of the approaches used in the past towards solving the solid waste problem especially, plastic waste. The capacity of the local government agency (AMA) responsible for waste management was also reviewed. Above all, the study examined the clarity of environmental and sanitation policies as well as the adequacy of legislation regarding the sustainable management of municipal solid waste in the metropolis. In essence, the purpose of the study was to provide practical and adequate information relevant for the sustainable management of plastic waste in Ghana's cities, especially the nation's capital, Accra. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis in the discussions of the research data. The problems of unsustainable plastic waste management in cities of developing countries including Accra have been partly occasioned by inadequate legislation, environmental and sanitation policies, as well as the lack of institutional capacity and competence. To ensure effective and efficient plastic waste management service delivery, community participation is very essential. This, of course, is a process which must result in the building of capacity to maintain services in the community. The thesis thus reviewed the involvement of some community-based organizations (CBOs) as partners in sustainable plastic waste management. But nevertheless, community initiatives and CBOs may have short shelf life if they are not conscientiously acknowledged and supported by the local authority (i.e. AMA). Furthermore, cooperation between the CBO and the local authority to maintain and operate the service system is essential. The multi-purpose application of plastics make them so unique that in recent times, they have been preferred over other products like paper, glass, etc., in domestic and commercial usages. The manufacturers, distributors and retailers of such plastic products, as well as consumers have been cited as culpable polluters, who by no means must have a stake in the management of the wastes they generate. Chapters three through seven offer some degree of illumination into what stakeholders hope to be done about the problem. The outcomes of the research reveal serious aberrations in the approaches that have been adopted by stakeholders in the last decade towards the sustainable management of plastic wastes. Hitherto, approaches towards basic service delivery had been “statist” and paternalistic with little regard for recovering cost on environmental service delivery. With the inception of the New Public Sector Management strategies in the late 80s, privatization - contracting-out and out-souring basic service delivery became the norm. The issue of public-private partnership (PPP) is a late arrival, in which the public and private sectors assume co-ownership and co-responsibility for public service delivery projects. As the research discusses local government ineffectiveness and inefficiency vis-a-vis sustainable plastic waste in Accra, the study in the event, reveals that a new approach (i.e. public private partnership) is imperative for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.