ASSESSMENT OF VALUE-ADDED SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL PERCEPTIONS IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF KWAMO COMMUNITY, KUMASI

Abstract

Assessment of perception on solid waste disposal is fundamental to any proper planning of solid waste management in an area.  This study assessed the value-added solid waste disposal perception in Kwamo community, Ejisu Municipality in Ghana. Two hundred and sixty (260) households were stratified into high, middle and low-class residential areas based on the type of building, access to road and income status, randomly sampled and interviewed via a structured questionnaire. This study indicated 85% of the respondents consider waste materials as potential value-added resources. Concerns on negative environmental impact of improper solid waste disposal was raised by 77.7% of the responding population, 18.5% were not aware and 3.8% not sure of the negative impacts. The awareness creation on the negative impacts of waste was effective in the following order: media (36.2%) > school (30.3%) > neighborhood (16%) > friends (12.2%). Waste segregation at source was known and practiced by 4.6% while 95.4% of the households had waste bins for storage of their wastes but do not practice segregation. About 74.6% of respondents were interested to participate in waste segregation while 71.5% had interest in adding value to waste (community-based composting). It implies that source separation of waste can be practiced as an integral part of waste management in the municipality. Waste segregation has a potential of providing cleaner materials to maximize revenue through compost preparation, recycling and land reclamation and reduce challenges with public health caused by poor management of waste.

Key Words: Waste disposal, Compost, Value-addition, Community-based waste management, Ghana

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