Managing waste is highly prudent to climate resilience – STRANEK

The Strategic Thinkers Network-Africa (STRANEK-Africa) is calling for better waste management practices that contribute less to greenhouse gas emissions.

According to STRANEK-Africa, there is a need for the government and relevant stakeholders to ensure that current waste management practices are exchanged for better options that are suitable for protecting the climate.

“Residents in the cities have an attitude of not disposing off waste in an appropriate manner by littering indiscriminately including the burning of rubbish, dumping rubbish into gutters among others. Clearly, the use of tricycles popularly known as ‘aboboyaa’, wheelbarrows, power tillers, three-wheeled tractors, headloads et cetera are overly depended on to transport waste and most of these simple equipment owners dispose of the waste through landfill, open dumping, burning and burying.

“The treatment and disposal of waste can produce emissions of several greenhouse gases which contributes to global climate change as we are currently experiencing. Indeed, the climate impact of waste are becoming difficult to ignore due to its contribution towards the human-driven methane emissions (which is part of the greenhouse gas emissions apart from carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide). Landfill opens room for high levels of methane gas and carbon dioxide through the waste decomposition,” STRANEK-Africa stated in a statement by its Executive Director, Nii Tettey Tetteh.

As part of its suggestions for proper waste management, the organisation said prominence should be given to waste management and strict adherence to existing environmental legislations on waste management should be enforced.

“There must be strict compliance with existing environmental legislations and bye-laws in the conveyance, handling and disposal of waste. No one should be left off the hook when one is found engaging in illegal disposal of waste. Government should find ways to stop people from shipping waste products into the country.

“Companies like Zoomlion Waste Management Experts, Jekora Ventures Limited, Waste Landfills Company Limited, Dispose Green, BD Waste et cetera are actually some of the big waste management companies in Ghana hence it is important for them to up their game to improve on city waste management,” it added.