Ghana is forfeiting significant economic opportunities by relying on a “collect and dump” approach to waste management instead of investing in recycling, composting and waste-to-energy systems, an economist at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has said.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Breakfast Show on Tuesday, ISSER research fellow Dr Kwame Adjei-Mantey said the country’s current waste management model focuses on disposal while overlooking the economic value that can be generated from waste.
“The current model where we just collect the waste and dump it overlooks the immense economic value that can be gotten even from waste,” he said.
Adjei-Mantey said recycling, composting and waste-to-energy initiatives could create jobs, generate revenue and support energy production if implemented on a larger scale.
“We talk about the recovery system, composting, waste to energy, these are all things that we could derive economic benefits from, but the current collection and dumping alone is definitely not bringing us these kinds of benefits,” he said.
He argued that such initiatives require coordinated action at the municipal and district levels rather than isolated efforts by individuals, saying effective waste recovery depends on systems capable of collecting and processing waste at scale.
According to Adjei-Mantey, stronger institutional coordination and greater investment are needed to move Ghana away from a disposal-focused waste management system.
He said the country’s waste challenge should be viewed not only as an environmental and public health issue but also as a missed economic opportunity with the potential to create employment and contribute to national development.
