Solid Waste Management in Awutu Senya East Municipality

Abstract

The study investigated waste management in the Awutu Senya East Municipality. This study sought to critically assess the types of solid waste generated in the Awutu Senya Municipal area. It also sought to identify how people disposed of domestic waste, how frequently waste was collected and disposed of, the resources that are available in collecting the waste generated and challenges faced by Awutu Senya Municipal Assembly when it comes to solid waste management. The study was particularly carried out at Kasoa. The Mixed methods approach was used in the study. A questionnaire survey was conducted whilst in-depth interviews were done involving key informants. Data was collected from households, officers at the Municipal Assembly as well as officers of two waste management companies that operate in the Municipality. The results revealed that communal skip containers were woefully inadequate in Awutu Senya East Municipality. This led to indiscriminate disposal of refuse. Indeed, as many as 59.59 % of the households resorted to unacceptable methods of waste disposal. Some of the unacceptable waste disposal methods included burning of refuse and dumping of refuse into open spaces and drains. It was observed that residents in the Municipality do not engage in waste separation and only a few (12 %) of the respondents reused some the waste they generated. Furthermore, it was observed that the major challenges of solid waste management within the Municipality included inadequate financial resources, low number of sanitation workers, outdated and limited number of solid waste management equipment. It is recommended that the Municipal Assembly should consider waste reduction strategies such as the reuse of food waste and other organic components of waste to generate compost for use in agriculture.