Solid waste management in African cities: Sorting the facts from the fads in Accra, Ghana

Habitat International 39 (2013) 96e104

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Solid waste management in African cities: Sorting the facts from the fads in Accra, Ghana Martin Oteng-Ababio a,1, Jose Ernesto Melara Arguello b, *, Offira Gabbay c, 2 a

Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG59, Legon, Ghana The Earth Institute at Columbia University, 475 Riverside Drive, Interchurch Center, Suite 253, New York, NY 10115, USA c Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA b

a b s t r a c t Keywords: Municipal solid waste management African cities Accra Waste streams

Municipal solid waste management continues to be an environmental health burden in many African cities. Overwhelmed with the magnitude of the problem, city authorities tend to seek out ‘environmentally friendly’ but costly "winewin" technologies via public-private partnerships with firms often from the North, yet these technologies may be inappropriate for the local conditions. While the authorities’ intentions may be laudable, the approach may be born out from an empirical vacuum. Using case studies from Accra, we illustrate how investments in new solid waste management technologies may well be ill-fated if the requisite waste stream composition data does not exist to justify such investments. We also highlight the importance of recognizing the innovations of "informal" waste pickers and legitimizing them with the formal system. Until the evidence e along with appropriate institutional and financial instruments e show favorable conditions for investing in advanced waste management technologies, authorities in African cities would do well to consider integrating proven innovations taking place in their own "backyard." Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) endures as an increasingly burdensome challenge for residents and authorities in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) cities (Kapepula, Colson, Sabri, & Thonart, 2007; Okot-Okumu & Nyenje, 2011; Rotich, Yongsheng, & Jun, 2006). The trajectory of this condition has by now been well-mapped: the scale of urbanization and population growth (from both migration and natural population increase) and its resultant increases in refuse generation has necessitated the demand for an improved level of waste management service which, more often than not, is inadequately provided by city authorities and/or private sector contractors. The difficulty in providing a level of service commensurate with demand is typically due to institutional, technical and financial constraints at national and local government levels, as well as in the private sector (UN Habitat, 2010, xxiiiexxv). Collection is particularly inadequate in poor urban communities, where residents cope with refuse heaps laying

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 212 870 2766; fax: þ1 212 870 2777. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Oteng-Ababio), jmelara25@ gmail.com (J.E. Melara Arguello). 1 Tel.: þ233 244382281. 2 565 Prospect Place Apt. 10C, Brooklyn, NY 11238, USA. 0197-3975/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2012.10.010

uncollected for up to weeks at a time by burning it or dumping it in streams and stagnant gutters, all of which attract disease-carrying pests and give rise to serious public and environmental health hazards. In many cases, lack of awareness and/or complacency for proper disposal habits among residents in these communities exacerbates the problem. Awareness is gradually improving with NGOs and civil society groups assisting community-based organizations in educating their residents on sound household waste handling, while demanding better service from the city authorities (Tukahirwa, Mol, & Oosterveer, 2011). Nevertheless, the urgency of this matter remains unabated, given that low-income, high-density settlements may absorb up to 70% of these cities’ populations (Oteng-Ababio, 2011). Lack of political will e i.e. awareness and dedication among national and local government to effectively address the MSWM challenge e is often cited as a prominent factor (UN-HABITAT, 2010, p. 213). While there is ample evidence that this is true, there are other factors at play; of course, context matters. Lack of awareness and/or dedication may not at all be the issue, as city leaders (e.g. mayors) in particular recognize littered streets and filthy settlements as an impediment to public health, investment in economic development and their envisioned transformation into a “world class” city. In fact, the will to improve MSWM may be great, propelling sweeping reforms up the agenda list of politicians and

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policymakers. It is in light of these intentions that foreign approaches to MSWM become all the more alluring. Such intentions have been evident in recent years via an evolving trend whereby government officials participate in “peer to peer exchanges”: overwhelmed with the scale and magnitude of the MSWM challenge, they visit “sister” cities in parts of Europe and North America to observe advances in technology, returning home with the impression that the same technologies can be effectively implemented if sufficient investment is attracted. An example of this trend can be found in the emerging interest among SSA cities to implement waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies as the cure-all to their MSWM woes. Companies specializing in these technologies purport to have the capacity to import these systems at little to no cost to the local government e often in exchange for a waste quota and/or land tax holidays (Ali, 2010). Recent discourse in MSWM has responded to this trend, calling into question the efficacy and appropriateness of a wholesale importation of these technologies into developing countries that are often incompatible with their physical, social and economic realities (UN HABITAT, 2010, p. 4). This position has been necessitated by failures in introducing new waste collection fleets or treatment plants, often stemming from a lack of local capacity to adequately maintain the equipment. Such costly interventions have brought to the fore the need for local, context-specific approaches, drawing from innovations in informal waste collection services. The case for “home-grown” approaches has been made due to the successes of such practices, especially with informal waste pickers in collecting households waste with high population density and poor spatial layout, while frequently separating waste at source and recycling it (UN HABITAT, 2010, p. 24). The call assumes more economic legitimacy when viewed from the standpoint that there are disproportionately fewer success stories on effective waste disposal practices within the sub-region. We argue that as interest in advancements in waste management technologies (e.g., WTE) arising from the North continues to surge among leaders and waste management departments in SSA cities, assessing their appropriateness within the local context becomes increasingly important. Building a knowledge and awareness base on this matter, therefore, is key. We contribute to this endeavor by examining recent developments in MSWM in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. Currently, the authorities continue to grapple with what is poor management practice by all accounts. Approximately 2,200 metric tons of waste is generated per day, of which 1500e1800 is estimated to be collected by private service providers (Oteng-Ababio, 2010a). Solid waste haulage alone cost the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (or AMA) 450,000 Ghanaian New Cedis (GHC, approximately US$ 307,340) a month with an extra GHC 240,000 (US$ 163,910) spent to maintain dump sites, while in Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest city, an average of GHC 720,000 (US$ 491,730) a month is spent on waste collection and disposal (Oteng-Ababio, 2010b). Indeed, the AMA municipality spends approximately 91% of its annual municipal budget3 in attempts to introduce a package of new waste management policies and technologies, including a full transition from communal container collection (CCC) to house-to-house (HtH) waste collection. Media coverage on the poor state of MSWM in Accra climaxed as a result of a cholera outbreak between December 2010 and March 2011. According to the Ghana Health Service, a total of 3286 cholera cases were recorded in health facilities in Accra. Of those cases, 54 deaths were recorded, yielding a fatality rate of 1.6% e which is unprecedented in the annals of recent Ghanaian medical history (Oteng-Ababio, in press). This disaster has added pressure on city

3

Personal communication, AMA Waste Management Department, 2011.

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authorities to make drastic improvements in waste management. In turn, this pressure has elevated official interest in WTE technologies as a means to effectively manage municipal solid waste. Environmental advocates, consultants and waste management companies often hail WTE as the winewin, environmentally sustainable solution to the otherwise insurmountable woes facing waste departments in cities such as Accra. Insufficient attention, however, is given to the capacity of Accra’s waste stream (i.e., it’s daily load, moisture levels and calorific content) necessary to justify such capital investment. By documenting what is known and unknown about Accra’s waste stream e that is, to “sort the facts from the fads” e we argue that while WTE may be a promising technology, its immediate introduction would be a premature and over-ambitious investment which may not be successfully implemented given the current knowledge and capacity base of both the public and private sectors. After these introductory remarks and the methodology section, the paper examines the current modes of solid waste collection and disposal in Accra. We subsequently discuss the evolution and dynamics of MSWM strategies and debate WTE as a “good fit” within the city’s waste management context. We also examine the waste collection practices in the informal sector, and demonstrate the need to integrate them into a comprehensive management strategy. We are convinced that given the lack of empirical data to justify the appropriateness of new waste management technologies, highlighting what is shown in evidence to be effective in local management practices has a comparative advantage, and indeed a wider implication for waste management practices in other cities across SSA, which may be grappling with similar issues. Methodology The findings presented in this study are based on a number of fieldworks conducted between 2006 and 2011 (see Oteng-Ababio, 2010a, 2010b; Earth Institute & University of Ghana, 2010). The 2006 fieldwork involved 920 respondents from 26 research localities within Greater Accra Metropolitan Assembly4 (GAMA). GAMA was chosen for the study because it houses the largest Metropolitan area in Ghana (AMA), where a wide array of collection and recycling activities can be observed. In addition, the fieldworks included participant observations and interviews with selected stakeholders and waste collectors in the settlements studied as well as expert interviews with representatives from individual assemblies and other service providers. A second set of data collection, involving a limited waste audit in the community of AyiDiki and compost analysis at Alajo, both within AMA which were carried out in 2010. At AyiDiki, a sample of twenty compound houses (totaling 143 households) had their refuse audited to determine the composition of waste. Additionally, a household from each house was interviewed to solicit their perspectives on the level of satisfaction on waste collection service provided to them. In 2011, the authors conducted 25 additional in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the waste industry as a way of upgrading their knowledge on the current developments in the waste management scene and the fate of some planned policy interventions. Such openended interviews afforded the respondents the opportunity to express their candid opinion on the MSWM regime in general as well as any other topics high on their agenda including the assembly’s wholesale implementation of HtoH policy and the planned WTE project. The data collected were subsequently transcribed and used to validate and

4 It is important to note that though the terminology GAMA has been used in the literature since 1970s, it does not have any legal backing.

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Fig. 1. The map of the study area, showing the various residential areas. Source: Songsore (2008).

complement the earlier fieldworks, providing valuable insights into current MSWM scenario in the study area. The area of analysis is the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), with emphasis on the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), which is considered the City of Accra. GAMA consists of eight administrative divisions, demarcated approximately 10 years ago, of what used to be known as Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) and the Ga District Assemblies (GDA) (see Fig. 1). With a population of less than half a million in 1960, the 2010 Population and Housing Census recorded the region’s population at 3,909,764, a 34.6% overall increase in population over the last census performed in 2010 (GSS, 2012). It comprises 16.1% of Ghana’s total population, with a density of 1,205 km2 and is one of the densest regions, with an estimated population growth rate of 2.8% (GSS, 2012). The AMA alone has an estimated floating migrant population of 500,000 (World Bank and Accra Metropolitan Assembly, 2010, p. 14). Migration from other regions, especially from the north and the West African region as a whole have continued to put a stress on the city’s infrastructure services and has strained the local authority’s capacity to meet increasing demand for such services. Accra, being the national capital since 1877, has a total land area of 201sq km and a population of 1,695,136 million people as of the 2000 Population and Housing Census (GSS, 2000).5 Within the SSA, it is one of the most populated and fast growing metropolises with an annual growth rate of 4.3%. Accra is home to about 30% of the

5 Population figures from the 2010 Population and Housing Census for the AMA have not yet been released.

manufacturing activities in Ghana, contributing over 10% to the GDP (UN-HABITAT, 2011), and is the region’s political and administrative center with legislative, deliberative and executive functions. Accra did not have the advantage of being a wholly planned city, since spatial planning was introduced after the town had developed on its own. Spatial planning is inconsistent at best, with semblances of colonial-era planning in (some) indigene areas such as Old Accra and Korle Gonno in Ga Mashie while migrant communities such as Nima, Sabon Zongo and Old Fadama continue to grow unplanned. Such unplanned settlements tend to be classified as “poverty pockets” in the city, with a history of poor municipal investment in infrastructure services and under- and unemployment (particularly among the youth). Thus, the city has high population, very low-income areas with poor infrastructure. Population densities in these poverty pockets range from 100 to 270 persons per hectare and it is estimated that 60e70% of the city’s population lives in these areas (Grant, 2009; Oteng-Ababio, 2011). Apart from low educational and income levels, the mass of unskilled labor in both formal and informal economy is found here. Most central parts of these areas are inaccessible by road due to the haphazard manner residents have built. Proper drainage systems are virtually non-existent except those on the major roads, which often appear permanently choked with solid waste. Modes of waste collection and disposal Our research findings confirm earlier results by Songsore et al. (2009) and Fobil, Armah, Hogarh, and Carboo (2008) that solid waste collection in the study area is generally serviced under the HtH and/or CCC systems. The HtH system is generally implemented in

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middle and upper income, low-density zones of the city where infrastructure facilities are favorable, while CCC is implemented in low-income, high-density zones. Our findings also confirm that in the low-income, high-density (LIHD) areas, waste is often dumped in gutters, drains and streams as a result of CCC’s being left unattended to for as long as 2e3 weeks at a time e itself a result in part of companies not getting paid regularly by the local government for pick-up services (Earth Institute, 2012, p. 81). This condition is also related to distances residents have to travel to access the communal container sites. Earlier studies (Oteng-Ababio, 2010b) have established that there are maximum travel thresholds within which residents will voluntary access the CCC (see Fig. 2) and once this is exceeded, utilization tends to fall off considerably. Indeed, the studies have established that the long distances residents have to travel to access a container (in some cases over 200 m), only to find it overflowing in most cases, serves as enough deterrent for them to look for alternative dumping sites, which invariably are very close to their living places. As of June 2010, the municipality introduced a fee-based performance collection system, where each service contractor is “zoned” a specific area within a sub-metro through a tender process. Under this arrangement, each house owner and/or landlord, office building, business, and street-vending kiosk is required to register with the contractor and pay a fee, which is tiered according to income status. Upon registration, the dwelling is entitled to a free refuse bin as provided by the municipality or the contractor. This new arrangement also requires residents in areas previously serviced by the CCC to transition to HtH collection system. The transition is expected to result in accounting for 80% of waste from source.6 This policy, arguably, has some inherent operational challenges that make its citywide application and implementation difficult if not impossible. First, the road infrastructure facilities are little to non-existent in most low-income areas, and are narrow or over crowded where they do exist. Additionally, such neighborhoods exhibit multi-habitation tendencies with an average household size of about 6.4 (Melara Arguello, Grant, Oteng-Ababio, & Ayele, 2012; UN-HABITAT, 2011); registering all households appears daunting. Poverty is also rife with many residents engaged in survival livelihoods; thus, engaging them on any monthly payments may lead to a high rate of default as most engage in daily wage activities. The policy is also a potential recipe for further environmental degradation. By the tenets of the policy, residents are given a choice to register and enjoy the service or find alternative means of disposing of their waste, which most invariably come at a cost to the environment and the community as a whole. The dominant mode of domestic refuse disposal from both HtH and CCC has been open dumping at landfills. Separation of waste, either at source or at disposal point, does not occur (Oteng-Ababio, 2010b). The disposal of waste has always been an intractable problem throughout Ghana and affirms that generally, poor state of waste management is not only an engineering problem. It also has much to do with rapid urbanization, poor financial capacity, low technical capacity for planning and management and above all, lax and weak enforcement of environmental regulations e which allow local authorities to flout environmental regulations without any sanctions. Assessing MSWM strategies in Accra Under Ghana’s Local Government act (Act 462), the district assemblies have been tasked with the oversight of MSWM in their

6 (AMA 2010, “AMA’s new refuse collection system; a sure panacea for a clean city. August 7, 2010. http://www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php?option¼com_ content&view¼article&id¼2946:amas-new-refuse-collection-system-a-surepanacea-for-a-clean-city&catid¼24:features&Itemid¼167).

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Fig. 2. Distance-decay in solid waste disposal in AMA Source: Oteng-Ababio (2010b).

jurisdiction. Yet in recent times, municipalities seem to have lost that entitlement and are experiencing challenges due to pressures from international organizations (World Bank; IMF) and globalization forces, which have left the decision-making process more market-based. Originally, the district assembly Waste Management Department (WMD) and Metro Public Health Department (MPHD) provided collection and disposal services, but poor quality of service e including collection of only 60e65% of waste generated in the city (World Bank, 1996, p. 66) e eventually resulted in a transition to public-private partnerships (PPP), mostly in the form of contracting services out to private operators. One such policy intervention was AMA’s partnership with the Chagnon City and Country Waste Ltd (CCWL), a Canadian company. The municipality had negotiated for a Canadian Government credit facility of US$14,630,998 to purchase waste service equipment. Without recourse to procedure for awarding contracts, the Assembly entered into a 7-year service contract with CCWL on 4 December 1997. As part of the agreement, AMA agreed to lease the equipment procured with the loan to CCWL to execute the contract while part of the amount was to serve as back-up capital to import spare parts. Additionally, the municipality further agreed to pay CCWL an amount of $30.28 per tonne of solid waste collected and managed at the landfill site. Though the contract made no room for the local private sector participation, the CCWL, after signing the contract, later sub-contracted to local contractors at $5.20 (payable in Cedis) per tonne of waste sent to the dump site; yet CCWL was being paid $22.17, making $17 profit on every tonne of waste the sub-contractors collected. Unsurprisingly, the contract was abrogated after the change in Government in 2000. Currently, waste collection in AMA is almost fully privatized, with approximately 8 contractors operating within the city as of 2010 and this transition has been well documented (Fobil et al., 2008; Oteng-Ababio, 2010a), albeit reports on beneficiary satisfaction have been discouraging despite observed improvements in coverage. This has generally been the case in many Ghanaian cities: according to Awortwi (2004) only 25% of a sampled population in three Ghanaian cities indicated improvements in quality of service. A study by the World Bank & Accra Metropolitan Assembly (2010, p. 59) revealed that 70% of respondents were unsatisfied with quality of waste management service, citing the city as “dirty”. This data reflects enduring difficulties in providing an acceptable level of MSWM in Accra. Aside from the transition to PPPs, the city authorities have engaged in a number of large-scale projects aimed at introducing advances in waste management technology. One such attempt was the Teshie Compost Plant. Constructed in the Teshie suburb during late 1970s, the plant was initially established to produce compost fertilizer from household organic waste. However, it did not have the managerial capacity to source-separate the feedstock and

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M. Oteng-Ababio et al. / Habitat International 39 (2013) 96e104 Table 1 Waste composition analyses conducted in 1993 and 2003

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Fig. 3. Annual production levels of Teshie compost plant from 1994 to 2004.

composted mixed waste, resulting in the production of insufficientquality compost to be utilized as fertilizer by vegetable growers. The plant was never able to operate at full capacity as it was strained by frequent breakdowns. Fig. 3 presents the annual production levels of the plant between 1994 and 2004. As of 2002, the Teshie plant was operating far under its envisaged capacity, having composting only an estimated 200 tons of organic waste daily out of the projected 1500 tons of waste generated daily at the time e of which at least 60%, or roughly 900 tons, consisted of organic waste (Asomani-Boateng, 2007). The operational failure of this facility was as a result of constant mechanical failure, the use of technology that had long exceeded its useful life, and lack of proper operational maintenance. The Teshie compost plant today is little more than an additional landfill site. Examining Accra’s waste to energy option The Accra municipality’s recent foray into upgrading waste management infrastructure has revolved around its pursuit of a WTE facility since 2009. After consulting with various waste management companies from the North, the municipality has hailed WTE as a ‘silver bullet’ to the MSWM conundrum. The appeal for WTE projects is understandable on the surface, as they tend to include substantial funding from outside sources, with relatively small financial investment required on behalf of the local government. In this instance, a New Zealand- based company EWS LTD, submitted a proposal in 2009 to process the municipal waste into pellet form and subsequently into a synthetic gas which would then be used to generate electricity (EWS, 2009). Under the terms of the proposal, the company requested a 25year exclusivity and guaranteed contract from the city authorities to deliver all municipal solid waste to the planned EWS facility at no cost to the company. As a trade off, the company offered to invest ‘substantial funds and provide all material resources’, while maintaining full profits accruing from the sale of electricity to the national grid (EWS, 2009). The proposal stated that no additional expenditures would incur by the city authority (AMA/WMD, 2010). This project has reportedly been stalled due to difficulties in securing the planned site for the plant,7 which happens to be the site of the old Teshie composting plant. In a separate bid, the Accra Regional Ministry in 2010 signed a memorandum of understanding between another company for a WTE facility.8

7 GNA (2010). AMA to make Accra a tourist destination and investment destination.” July 16, 2011. http://www.modernghana.com/news/340189/1/ama-tomake-accra-a-tourist-and-investor-destinati.html. 8 Reuters (2010). “Blue Sphere announces Memorandum of Understanding for a waste to energy project in Ghana.” November 17, 2010. http://www.reuters.com/ article/2010/11/17/idUS142310þ17-Nov-2010þBW20101117.

Waste fractions

Percentage fraction (%) 1993 (WMD)

2003 (WMD)

Organic material Inert material Solid plastics Plastic bags, foils etc Glass Paper & cardboard Metals and cans Textiles Miscellaneous or other Waste Totals

72.6 8.9 1.3 2.7 2.0 7.2 2.8 1.5 0.9 100

65.0 17.1 3.5 e 3.0 6.0 2.5 1.7 1.2 100

Source: AMA (2009).

It can be argued that the interest in integrating WTE technology into the MSWM system by regional and local government in Accra is illustrative of their resolve to transition into “sustainable” waste management. Indeed, the technology may very well bring an array of public and environmental health benefits while yielding an alternative power source for the city. The reasons for caution, however, have much to do with the absence of requisite waste stream data to validate WTE as an appropriate technology as well as the difficulty in the assumption that “no additional expenditures would be required on behalf of the city authority” (AMA, 2010). The reality today is that the AMA spends close to 70% of its internally generated revenue on waste collection. If the authorities were to continue to deliver ALL municipal waste to the proposed EWS facility at no cost to the company, the city’s problem with waste would not have been resolved after all. On the other hand, the functionality and sustainability of WTE technology hinges on a proper auditing of the city’s waste stream (chemical and physical properties) including particle size, calorific values, moisture levels, heating values, etc, as well as daily load volume. There are of course other factors to consider, including siting, environmental and community impact, compatibility with recycling and other at-source reduction techniques within the integrated solid waste management plan, and economics (facility and construction costs, etc.) but a comprehensive composition analysis is widely considered to be among the first steps in the feasibility analysis (SWANA, 2012, WTERT, undated). In Accra, citywide waste composition data collection has been very limited. In most cases, projections have drawn on waste audit conducted by AMA in 1994 (see Table 1). More recent waste characterization has been very limited in scale as in Fobil et al. (2008) which recorded an organic waste composition of 60%, and moisture content of as high as 62.2%, which is above the requisite moisture content (50%) needed for efficient operations of any incineration project (McKendry, 2002). Admittedly, compaction at pre-treatment phase may reduce moisture content but a larger sample size would be needed to ensure reliability of the data. Worth noting is the fact that dated data could obscure the reality of current waste conditions. Suffice to reiterate that a comprehensive waste stream analysis for AMA is imperative to guarantee a sustainable implementation of a new waste management technology. This data does not currently exist and reflects an information gap, which could be a recipe for project failure. In other words, there is no empirical data to help determine the appropriateness of WTE technologies within the integrated waste management framework. As aforementioned, PPP’s have managed to improve the coverage in terms of collection but have fallen well short of standards for efficiency and reliability. Gaps in service provision are typically filled by the informal waste pickers who sort out recyclables and collect waste

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from households. This is in tandem with the observation by Ahmed and Ali (2004, 471) that the informal waste pickers “enter into SWM activities because they see a gap in service delivery and existence of a demand for fulfilling the gap. They find this niche and charge for their services”. We examine their impact on MSWM in Accra in the following section. Informal MSWM practices and experiences Our research in Accra has revealed that in most cases, even though informal systems of solid waste removal are discouraged rather than appreciated and legitimized by the city authorities, they continue to exist and may flourish hand-in-hand with the formal system. In the main, informal waste collector or ‘Kaya Bola’ activity (i.e. porters who carry solid waste from residencies, markets, etc. in sacks, baskets, etc. to a dumping/container site for a fee) is not confined only to the low-income neighborhoods but equally prominent and conspicuous in high- and middle-income areas. Our results show that 60% and 80% of respondents in the middleincome areas of AMA and GDA, respectively, use the services of ‘Kaya Bola’ whilst 60% in the low-income areas of TMA use that service. The results from AMA particularly reveal that over 20% of respondents in the middle-income areas of Abossey Okai, Adabraka and Kaneshie (i.e. the commercial hub of AMA) used this service instead of the assigned CCC system, possibly because of their commercial interests. Other waste pickers in communities sort recyclables (particularly plastics) and send them to buyers in the North Industrial Area. This observation echoes the findings of Ahmed and Ali (2004) in that millions of poor people in cities of the developing countries eke out a living from picking waste generated by their wealthier neighbors. Currently, the sector works alongside the official sectors, albeit in an officially non-recognized capacity. The extent of its participation depends on a number of factors including the demand for the service, ability to pay, poverty and regulations (Ahmed & Ali, 2004). We can deduce by inference that the continuous existence of the informal Kaya bola service implies that there is a gap that has not been reached by both public and private sectors, possibly signaling to the effect that any initiatives to stop the informal sector will contribute to a decline of cleanliness at the household level; hence our conviction that the integration of the formal and the informal sector will invoke a better MSWM system than currently being observed. Our position is further strengthened and reinforced by prior research, which have shown that the experience of informal sector intervention in waste management has been very diverse in different regional contexts (Didero, 2011; Gunsilius, undated; Neamatalla, 1998). In some developing countries, the informal waste workers have managed to establish organizations and networks that in some cases have become regular partners of municipal government and private enterprises. From past experiences, various political, legal, cultural and social conditions determine the best possible approach to informal sector integration, and local, regional and national contexts must be taken into account. In India, for example, waste picking, along with any work related to garbage or the handling of carcasses and human excreta is traditionally bound to the ‘untouchables’. This is the informal waste sector, which is socially stratified in a pyramid with scrap collectors (waste pickers and itinerant waste buyers) at the bottom and reprocessors at the top. Various actors such as retailers, stockists and wholesalers occupy the strata in between. The majority of retailers are former waste pickers who have managed to assemble some capital and to take up another activity. Since 1972, efforts have been made by local NGO‘s to organize the waste pickers, but

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the results do not yet extend across India (Gunsilius, undated; Koberlein, 2003). In Brazil, waste pickers traditionally collected organic material in order to feed animals. Waste recovery later evolved to include recyclable materials such as plastic waste, scrap metal, etc. According to Didero (2011), prior to 1993, waste pickers worked under the sun and rain, gathered their materials with manual carts, sorted it on the street, and slept next to the recyclables because they did not have a proper place for sorting and storage. The treatment given to them especially by the city authorities had always been of negligence and misconception: they were stigmatized as vagrants and often treated violently by the police, who drove them away from the streets. In 1990, Belo Horizonte Archdiocese, through its Pastoral de Rua (Street Pastoral) formed the Waste Picker’s Association e ASMARE. In 1993, the association was integrated into the MSWM system and in 2005, it established a plastic recycling plant. The integration guaranteed the waste pickers the right of working in the city with the collection of recyclables, as well as to have a proper place for the sorting of their material. The waste pickers’ working conditions improved greatly, which helped to attract new members to ASMARE: from an initial membership of 31 pickers in 1993, the association has now grown to 380. Additional jobs were created in the sorting and recycling facilities, making the way for those with physical problems or those aged to have the opportunity to work on a lighter job. In terms of production, collection has increased from 15 tons in 1993 to 450 tons per month. The impact in terms of income generation can also be cited: 54% of the associates earn up to 2 minimum salaries, 40% earn between 2 and 4 salaries and 6% earn 5 minimum salaries (Didero, 2011). In Africa, the municipality of Maputo and GTZ jointly embarked on a project to improve waste collection, recovery and disposal under a ‘Waste management in the Greater Area of Maputo (AGRESU)’ framework. Prior to the launching of the project, many low-income outlying areas had no collection service, and people known as ‘catadeiros’ used to work under extremely bad conditions at the municipal landfill, collecting recyclable materials from recently delivered household garbage. With the support of the programme, the catadeiros were registered as cooperatives in order to carry out joint activities more efficiently, at a higher standard and were integrated in the formal collection service for hitherto deprived areas. Additionally, a center was built for the separation and pre-treatment of the recyclable wastes. The integration has had considerable success9: 45% of the poor areas of the city are now covered by the collection service provided by small enterprises of previously informal waste collectors. This means that 450,000 citizens now have a waste collection service while the new small enterprises provide employment for 250 people. The recycling center sells high-quality recycled plastics to the local recycling industry and no longer needs external financial support. The employees have a significantly higher income than before. The literature is replete with case studies where lack of recognition for the informal sector has culminated in the stalling of important MSWM projects. The Zabbaleen in Egypt brings into sharp focus the consequences of situations where city authorities’ decision-making processes have been influenced by the tenets of globalization, market forces and political expediencies as well as other external considerations without given much weight and attention to possible local content. The Zabbaleen were a group of waste workers, mostly Coptic migrants who had achieved highly effective and sustainable waste collection system (Didero, 2011; Neamatalla, 1998). According to Wilson, Velis, and Cheeseman (2006) the members were very adept at what they did e diverting 70 to 80 percent of waste from landfills through recycling and composting, compared

9

http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/umwelt-infrastruktur/abfall/2745.htm.

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Fig. 4. Public-private networks in SWM in Ghana. Source: adapted Baud et al. (2001) and Oteng-Ababio (2011).

to a 30 percent “best practice” from global corporations. Inhabitants paid only minimal fees for their garbage collection services. The Zabbaleen lived and worked in disastrous conditions in settlements on the fringes of the city and were highly marginalized and stigmatized but were still grateful for this income opportunity (Iskander, 2005). According to Didero (2011) in the 1990s, however, this waste collection system became overburdened by an exponential increase of household waste generated by modified consumption patterns of an ever-growing population. In an attempt to reform the system the governorates of Cairo and Giza decided to commission several European multinational waste companies with the waste removal in Cairo. However, the Zabbaleen, who were used to the hard, dirty, smelly and highly stigmatized nature of waste work were not accounted for in the new contracts. In assessing the outcome of the privatization decision against the proclaimed aim of a sustainable integrated waste management system, Didero (2011, p. 39) maintains “the new system is a complete failure”, adding that though the companies were only required to achieve a recycling quota of 20%, they achieved even less (also see Fahmi, 2005, 167). Suffice to reiterate that failure of the wholesale adoptions of ‘foreign based’ technology may not be as a result of some defect in the institutional arrangement itself. Rather, the physical as well as the socioeconomic characteristics of greater part of cities in developing countries- high population density (multi-habitation), povertystricken settlements, poor infrastructure etc. e defy easy implementation of such technology. Evidence abounds and tends to imply that such technologies must seek local knowledge and content to work effectively. Discussion: re-engineering a formal-informal waste management continuum Our paper seeks to ground SWM approaches in an evidencebased manner by looking at what is known and unknown in source separation/reduction, collection, treatment and disposal, with an emphasis on the first three aspects. With respect to Accra,

much more is known about prospects and challenges in waste reduction at source and collection than appropriate treatment technologies. Given that the state of source separation/reduction and collection has such important bearings on treatment, we use our findings to support the integration of informal waste management services into the formal system. We argue that in the development discourse concerning appropriate MSWM practices and its related handicaps, very little attention or appreciation is given to the traditional skills, endurance and resourcefulness of the urban poor (Thieme, 2010), who for years have been the ‘unnoticed’ backbone of MSWM - at least in the low-income areas. This runs against the backdrop that the literature is replete with case studies where the informal sector combines alternative modes of survival, work and collective action that often render ‘entrepreneurship’ a form of business activism (Thieme, 2010). We argue that despite the considerable economic and social benefit they produce, waste collectors usually operate in hostile social environments. The authorities often treat them as nuisances, embarrassments, or even criminal. They tend to have low social status and face public scorn, harassment, and occasionally, violence; therefore, the vast majority of waste collectors remain unorganized, unrepresented and unprotected. In recent years, however, subtle partnerships that have emerged between the public and the private sector in the area of MSWM have engaged the attention of waste practitioners and researchers (Baud, Grafakos, Hordijk, & Post, 2001). Some studies trace the origins of these networks to the advent of neo-liberal doctrine, which saw the resurgence of market forces and a reduction of state control as way of cutting down on public expenditure (Ali, 1999; Burgess, Carmona, & Kolstee, 1997; Cointreau-Levine, 1994; Lee, 1997 and Post, 1999; Rondinelli & Iacono, 1996). Others also argue that such reforms were inspired by the quest for sustainable development after the 1992 Earth Summit, which brought environmental issues to the forefront of the menu of international policy (Bartone & Leitman, 1994; UNCHS, 1996). Yet, others also attempt to construe the reform as a clear-cut case of neocolonialism in which global actors dominate and exploit the local

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poor, a position which is likely to unduly reduce the complexity of the actual power relationships at play. Be that as it may, these positions may not be mutually exclusive in many developing countries, including Ghana. Our research has amply demonstrated that MSWM system is a complex entity in which the ‘global’ and the ‘local’ must interact vigorously. As rightly identified by Baud and Schenk (1994) and Baud et al. (2001) the networks that have emerged involve not only the public sector, the private sector, the NGOs and CBOs but the non-recognised private sector (waste pickers, itinerant buyers, traders in waste materials and non-registered small-scale enterprises), who in actual fact form the link between the community and the recognised private sector (see Fig. 4). These networks are seen as relationships between two or more actors, expressed in physical activities and based on a written or verbal agreement, which may be mutually beneficial, without assuming equality between actors. Ironically, the state policy acknowledges interactions with the private sector. However, at the implementation levels, the implementing authority (local authority) seems not to recognise the non-registered private sectors (waste pickers) who are the lifeline of the MSWM system. This is especially the case in the low-income areas where up to 70% of the urban population live, where our research has confirmed has been the bane of current MSWM practices. In the densely populated areas where the CCC system is predominant, every MSWM practice should aim at attracting waste at source; currently, only the “waste pickers’ approach” has the potential and capacity to efficiently and effectively accomplish this. The system is not only accessible and well co-ordinated (Baud & Schenk, 1994); it is also a financially viable system for both consumers and local authorities as well as the ‘unknown’ private enterprise e waste pickers. Perhaps more importantly, it is the only system that guarantees any semblance of source separation of waste, which has so far escaped the lenses of all official arrangements, and creates avoidable environmental hazards at the dumping grounds (Oteng-Ababio, 2011). Making this kind of headway into waste reduction at source can only markedly improve the prospects of success for pre-treatment and treatment technologies, whatever they may be. It follows that informal waste management approaches can “plug into” advances in MSWM technologies, including WTE, so long as those technologies have been validated by the requisite waste composition data. Conclusion This paper has demonstrated two essential findings with implications for MSWM in Accra: first, crucial waste stream data is still needed to identify the appropriate investment in technology. Under pressure to make strides in environmental health and beautification of the city’s streets, city managers may be compelled to ‘leapfrog’ seemingly arduous and superfluous data collection and analysis in favor of “game-changing” technologies. But doing so may come with substantial risk of failure. Does Accra have enough daily waste load (in terms of volume and quality) to support an investment in WTE? What are the heating values, moisture and calorific content of the waste? What is the intended catchment area, and how will the raw materials be separated and transported to the production site? These questions remain insufficiently unanswered. We urge city managers in Accra and other SSA cities to heed the lessons of the past and turn attention to filling the information void in order to empower them during the deliberation process. If anything, the best initial investment may be in procuring the best methods and technologies that accurately capture this information. We also call upon NGOs, civil society and universities (local and international) to be careful not to romanticize

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technological advances in MSWM without having the necessary data to justify its use. Secondly, while critical information gaps are being filled, the role of the Kaya Bola (informal waste collectors) and their efficient methods (including source-separation and recycling) should be integrated with “official” waste management practice rather than isolated from it. Not only is there potential for promoting informal collection practice in the interim of the identification of appropriate technologies (and subsequent investment), but also it can coexist effectively alongside a suite of waste management services. Scheinberg, Spies, Simpson, and Mol (2011) discuss this integration as “modernized mixtures”. Doing so would also add the benefit of job creation, particularly for young adults. Given the fact that many municipal authorities in SSA cities struggle to generate revenue from their local tax bases, they (and their constituents) can ill afford to implement waste management techniques that may be incompatible with their environmental, social and economic contexts. Rigorous evaluation of all waste management options, including efficiencies found in their own backyard in the informal sector, is the best way to safeguard against ill-fated investments and toward meaningful advancement in sound MSWM in the long-term. References Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). (2009). Integrated solid waste management strategy. Accra. Ahmed, S. A., & Ali, M. (2004). Partnerships for solid waste management in developing countries: linking theories to realities. Habitat International, 28, 461e479. Ali, A. (2010). Wasting time on solid waste in developing countries. Waste Management, 30, 1437e1438. Ali, M. (1999). The informal sector: what is it worth? Waterlines, 17, 10e12. AMA/WMD, Accra Metropolitan assembly/waste management department. (2010). Annual report from the WMD Accra: Unpublished data from Various Internal Reports. Asomani-Boateng, R. (2007). Closing the loop: community-based organic solid waste recycling, urban gardening, and land use planning in Ghana, West Africa. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 27(2), 132e145. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/0739456x07306392. Awortwi, N. (2004). Getting the fundamentals wrong: woes of publiceprivate partnerships in solid waste collection in three Ghanaian cities. Public Administration and Development, 24(3), 213e224. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ pad.301. Bartone, C., & Leitman, J. (1994). Towards environmental strategies for cities, urban infrastructure notes, urban No. UE-11. Washington, DC: World Bank. Baud, I., Grafakos, S., Hordijk, M., & Post, J. (2001). Quality of life and alliances in solid waste management contributions to urban sustainable development. Cities, 18(1), 3e12, Elsevier. Baud, I., & Schenk, H. (Eds.), (1994). Solid waste management: Modes, assessment, appraisals and linkages 613 in Bangalore. New Delhi: Monohar Publishers. Burgess, R., Carmona, M., & Kolstee, T. (1997). The challenge of sustainable cities, neoliberalism and urban strategies in developing countries. London: Zed Books. Cointreau-Levine, S. (1994). Private sector participation in municipal solid waste management in developing countriesIn The Formal Sector, Urban Management Programme Policy Paper No. 13, Vol. 1. Washington: World Bank. Didero, M. (2011). Cairo’s informal waste collectors: a multi-scale and conflict sensitive perspective on sustainable livelihoods. Erdkunde, 66(1), 27e44. Earth Institute at Columbia University & University of Ghana. (2010). Millennium cities initiative report: Findings of waste composition study for Ayidiki Electoral Area, Accra, Ghana. New York: Earth Institute at Columbia University. Earth Institute at Columbia University. (2012). Millennium cities initiative AMA community upgrading profile: Korle Gonno. New York: The Earth Institute at Columbia University. EWS (Ghana) LTD. (2009). Proposal for volume reduction of solid waste for the city of Accra. Submitted to Accra Metropolitan Assembly. Fahmi, W. S. (2005). The impact of privatisation of solid waste management on the Zabaleen garbage collectors of Cairo. Environment & Urbanization, 17(2), 155e 170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095624780501700212. Fobil, J. N., Armah, N. A., Hogarh, J. N., & Carboo, D. (2008). The influence of institutions and organizations on urban waste collection systems: an analysis of waste collection system in Accra, Ghana (1985e2000). Journal of Environmental Management, 86(1), 262e271. Grant, R. (2009). Globalizing city: The urban and economic transformation of Accra, Ghana. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. GSS (Ghana Statistical Service). (August 2000). Population and housing census, provisional results. Republic of Ghana, Ghana Statistical Service.

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