Controlled dumping of refuse at Abokobi landfill site

By Edmund Smith-Asante, ACCRA

Workers of Waste Landfills fumigating the dumpsite

Controlled dumping of waste is ongoing at the Abokobi landfill site due to the absence of alternative dumpsites in the Ga East Municipality, Mr John Kwao Sackey, the Municipal Chief Executive, has stated.

He explained that tricycles were allowed to dump because “if you ask them to take it to Kpone or Nsumia, all that you will hear is that they just dumped it somewhere.”

The landfill is currently full and waste management operators working in the municipality have been directed to dump at Kpone and Nsumia, which are quite a distance from the Ga East Municipality.
Mr Sackey, however, said the municipality was working with the various assemblies to have a permanent recycling plant to manage the waste generated.

He added that they were also encouraging private partnership in managing the waste but it would take time to come to fruition.

Fumigation

Speaking with journalists during a fumigation exercise conducted last Saturday by the waste dump managers, Waste Landfills, Mr Sackey said, “Yesterday we witnessed the transfer station inauguration at Teshie and similar ones are going on at the various districts, so finally at the end of the day, this area will be closed.”

Stressing that he had not received any directive from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop dumping at the Abokobi landfill site, he said management of the site was now better, hence the contracting of Waste Landfills to control limited dumping at the site.
 

Mr Sackey said the periodic fumigation exercise was one of the steps taken to check the spread of sanitation-related diseases, while public education was ongoing in the various communities.

Fumigation exercise

Mr Peter Kwei Dagadu, the General Manager of Waste Landfills, told journalists that every day the dump site and its environs were sprayed, as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.

“We go beyond the boundaries of the immediate environs and we extend these activities to the community. So we go about a kilometre beyond the dump- site and then spray the entire area”, he said.The extended area includes parts of Legon, the Pantang Hospital and Ashongman.

He noted that technically the dumpsite was exhausted, but states that, “If this place shuts down, the immediate effect would be pile-ups at the Madina and Dome markets and a few other satellite markets within this area.

Writer’s email: edmund.asante@graphic.com.gh

This story was first published by the Daily Graphic on June 29, 2015