Waste Management, Societal Canker

In recent times, the attitudes of individuals’ responsibility towards unwholesome practices have received much attention in various jurisdictions including water, hygiene and sanitation.

The global attention being given to basic sanitation as a social issue has become one of the important goals to reduce sanitation health-related problems and to close the inequality gaps between developed and developing countries (Sustainable Development Goal – SDG, 2015).

In considering wholesome sanitation practices, it may be worth examining the phenomenon (of good sanitation) through the lenses of peoples’ attitudes towards waste disposal behaviors’ or waste management practices.
This is because human activities have always resulted in the generation of waste. Waste is generally described as the unwanted or unusable material that is disposed of by its users.

Arguably, the issue of waste disposal was not a major problem until there was urbanization and large conurbations. Waste disposal behaviors and management is perhaps, a major challenge countries are facing in modern cities.
Over the years, governments have adopted mechanisms to control waste in communities especially, using technology which have proven ineffective.

However, waste management must be an integral and important part of the environmental management system. This involves all responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for establishing a system that ensures the effective management of waste and compliance to environmental regulation.
In this regard, the individual’s responsibility towards proper waste disposal behaviors as well as management practices is necessary.

Health-wise, good sanitation is an establishment for wellbeing that bears insurance from an extensive variety of contaminations and diseases that lead to deaths. In support of this postulation, organizations and scholars have argued that health problems such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, and typhoid are predominantly induced by improper sanitation most especially, in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014; 2015; United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund [UNICEF], 2014; 2015).

For example, as of 24th May, 2015, a total of 591 cholera cases with 5 deaths were reported. In this regard, the WHO (2015) further described the Greater Accra region as the epicenter for cholera outbreak and thus recommended the need to intensify multi-sectorial response interventions, especially, in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene to curb the problem.

However, not many are aware of the linkage between improper waste disposal or poor sanitation and human health (Adu-Boahen et al., 2014). This perhaps, explains that the Ghanaian context has not featured prominently to enable one appreciate the phenomenon being investigated.

Despite much efforts through campaigns, sanitation and waste management issues remain a major social problem and continue to have health implications in both developed and developing world. There is a physical evidence to demonstrate that Ghana faces a waste management problem.

Truthfully, visits to some cities and towns reveal heaps of uncontrolled rubbish, polythene bags and overflowing dumping sites. Notwithstanding, economic activities to an extent, have been connected to generating some waste – in that, it is being realized that as nations populously urbanize and end up noticeably wealthier, their utilization of inorganic materials (e.g. plastics, papers, glasses, aluminum) also increase (World Bank, 2015).

It is, therefore, imperative to facilitate solid waste management with a more coordinated approach. For example, to incorporate environmental and monetary or economic ideas for handling waste, such as “source separation; recovery of waste; legitimization of the informal systems; partial privatization and public participation”.

Hence, by considering all the activities required to handle or manage waste from its inception to its final disposal, successful and effective waste administration procedures in developing world requires the significant inclusion of the concerned partners.

Kelessidis and Stasinakis (2016) identified cultural orientation and strict regulations as some of the differences between developed and developing countries because more stringent legislations have been adopted for waste disposal and management (such as treatment technologies and solid waste segregation) in developed countries.
Meanwhile, sanitation and improper liquid or solid waste disposal and management behaviors in developing countries could be attributed to cultural orientation, behavioral attitudes, lack of knowledge about the effect of poor sanitation, poverty and lack of education amongst individuals

Nevertheless, this seemingly poor orientation and attitudes have social implications. Social and health issues have behavioral causes that need behavioral change towards prevention.
In Ghana, the problem of plastic waste disposal is associated with indiscriminate dumping, increasingly difficulties with acquiring suitable disposal sites, difficulties with conveyance of plastic waste by road due to worsening traffic problems and the lack of alternative transport options and the weak demand for composting as an option for waste treatment and disposal
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The problem of waste management in Ghana is not only an engineering problem but rapid urbanization, poor financing capacity of local authority for planning and management of solid waste, weak enforcement of environmental regulations without any sanction have also contributed to this problem.

The amount of waste generated by the populace has also increased tremendously. Solid waste management has consequently become a necessity for keeping the cities clean, healthy and habitable.

By Adwoa Adubia