Former Accra Mayor Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah says Ghana must make plastic waste worth collecting, as residents near the Adipa landfill push back against waste trucked from Accra.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Face to Face programme, Sowah said the country’s waste problem is largely a plastics problem. “We failed to find an economic value for the plastic waste,” he said.
His comments come as waste from the Agbogbloshie enclave is being moved to the Adipa landfill in the Eastern Region. Residents of the Adipa/Asiaw Electoral Area have given the government a seven-day ultimatum to stop the transfers and engage them over their concerns about the site.
Backing residents, but warning against closure
Sowah said the residents’ concerns were legitimate, given the health and environmental risks of a poorly managed landfill. He warned, however, that closing Adipa outright would leave Accra with nowhere to send its waste. He added that the material now being moved there is not the city’s regular daily waste.
He also said authorities should be clear about what will happen to the cleared areas around the Korle Lagoon, where dredged silt and plastics have built up. In his view, removing the waste matters because it would otherwise return to the lagoon.
What he proposes
Sowah, who was mayor from 2017 to 2022, made four main proposals:
- Price plastic like metal: Scrap metal rarely ends up in household rubbish because it has a market value, he said, and plastic needs the same incentive.
- Sort waste before landfill: Large transfer stations should take waste from a whole cluster of neighbourhoods and separate plastics and paper first. He cited the Achimota Transfer Station, completed during his tenure, which he said handles about 800 tonnes.
- Use organic waste: Food residues and cassava peels are already used as animal feed, and more organic material could become manure.
- Capture landfill gas: Engineered sites should collect methane to generate electricity instead of letting it escape, as well as controlling leachate, flies and odour.
He acknowledged that even good recycling leaves residue, so properly engineered landfill capacity will still be needed.
