Authorities in Ghana’s capital, Accra are sounding the alarm over a looming health crisis as all major landfill sites within the capital have reached their limit, raising serious concerns about a potential outbreak of diseases like cholera and typhoid.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) raised the alarm during a briefing with Parliament’s Sanitation and Water Resources Committee, which recently visited assemblies in the Greater Accra Region.
Engineer Solomon Noi, AMA’s Director of Waste Management, painted a grim picture of the current waste disposal situation. He attributed the crisis to a lack of engineered landfill sites and inadequate waste infrastructure.
Noi warned that delays in establishing more secure waste treatment systems could spark a major public health emergency.
He explained that without engineered facilities, rainwater causes leachate (polluted liquid from waste to seep into nearby water sources), potentially contaminating water supplies across Accra.
In addition, he raised the issue of improper handling of medical and sanitary waste. To prevent a full-scale outbreak, Mr. Noi called for the establishment of a state-of-the-art intermediate waste treatment facility. He suggested that such a plant, featuring incineration technology, could effectively eliminate harmful pathogens from non-recyclable materials like diapers and medical waste before disposal.
© WAVN