AMA evolves strategy to solve waste management problem(9/1/09)

Story: Leticia Ohene-Asiedu & Jennifer Dornoo

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has evolved a strategy to ensure that waste collectors are paid by the people who collect fees at the point of disposal.
This is to prevent instances where fee collectors pocket the fees they take at the point of disposal and to make resources available for waste collectors.
The head of the Waste Management Department of the AMA, Mr Ben Mensah Laryea, disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra.
He said contractors would be deployed to various waste collection sites to collect waste and fees from sanitation guards beginning from the first quarter of this year.
This is to generate funds and help the AMA work effectively to improve sanitation in the metropolis.
He added that the expensive nature of the job needed enough revenue to cater for expenses such as purchasing of vehicles, fuel, spare parts and for maintenance.
According to him, a company was currently developing the Sabbah landfill for waste to be disposed of for three years after which the waste disposal site would be moved to the Kwabenya landfill.
Mr Laryea said the Waste Management Department had approached recycling companies to recycle plastics and other items and expressed the hope that this would start in Accra to make the city clean.
To ensure effective co-operation, Mr Laryea said the public would be educated on the new development, stressing that sanitation and waste management are important for all.
“If the city dwellers will fully co-operate with the AMA and also keep the city clean, we will all cut down on the health bills”, he added.