Accra Gets New Landfill Site

As part of efforts to manage disposal of waste in Accra and elsewhere in the country, a new landfill site, known as the Nsumia Waste Disposal Site, has been completed and is ready for use. The site, located in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipality off the Accra Nsawam highway, is about 680,000 cubic metres and will serve Accra and its surrounding areas. Waste from Accra is presently dumped at the Kpone landfill site which receives about 2, 500 tonnes of waste a day and is currently the only site receiving garbage from the city and its catchment areas. But the facility has reached a maximum point and is seriously under pressure. The situation at the site has worsened due to the unpleasantly vast amount of garbage and offensive odour that emanates from the dump site which residents close by say has reached unbearable levels. Alternative site Mr Peter Kwei Dagadu, the General Manager of Waste Landfills Company Limited, operators of the site, in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, said the new location was strategically positioned to take care of waste from the western parts of Accra and other places. He said the new facility was a relief for the Kpone landfill. �At the moment, all refuse trucks go to Kpone and this is putting a lot of pressure on the site, so this new one would ease the pressure and also serve as an alternative site for dumping of refuse,� he said. EPA certified Mr Dagadu said the site had been licenced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to operate as a solid waste disposal site and was opened to all waste contractors to dump refuse. He said the facility could take in about 1,000 tonnes of solid waste daily and so would substantially relieve the stress contractors had to go through in travelling all the way to Kpone to dump their waste. He advised the public to act responsibly with regard to how they managed waste and also subscribe to waste collection services to guarantee that their waste would end up in the right location to be disposed of efficiently.