Report By: Abigail Quanson
The La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly has pledged to intensify sanitation education, monitoring and enforcement in markets as part of efforts to improve waste management under its zero-waste initiative.
The Head of the Assembly’s Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit, Daniel Anang Tetteh, said the Unit would sustain public education and strengthen monitoring to ensure traders adopt proper waste disposal practices and maintain cleaner market environments.
He explained that protecting public health through the provision of clean and disease-free surroundings remained a core responsibility of the Unit, adding that regular engagement with market women and other traders would be central to achieving the initiative’s objectives.
According to him, sanitation education would not be a one-off exercise. Environmental health officers would continue visiting the market to educate traders, monitor compliance and address challenges affecting proper waste management.
He stressed that the Unit would complement public education with enforcement where necessary to ensure that traders complied with sanitation requirements.
Assembly considers additional waste management support
However, some market women have raised concerns about the adequacy of the proposed waste collection bins, questioning whether the facilities would be sufficient to contain the type and volume of waste generated daily.
Responding to the concerns, Tetteh acknowledged the need to assess the market’s waste management requirements and indicated that the Assembly was considering additional logistical support, including the provision of skips and possible assistance with waste transportation.
He noted that waste collection remained a significant challenge for the Assembly, given the volume of waste generated across its jurisdiction.
Tetteh said he would engage the Municipal Chief Executive and the Assembly’s management to discuss the concerns and propose possible interventions to strengthen waste collection and transportation at the market.
GAYO partnership to support waste recovery
The zero-waste initiative is being implemented in partnership with the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), with a focus on improving waste management and promoting the recovery and productive use of discarded materials.
A key component of the project is a Material Recovery Facility (MRF), which is expected to receive and process collected waste into useful products, including compost and black soldier fly products.
The facility is expected to support the recovery of organic waste and reduce the quantity of waste requiring final disposal, while creating opportunities to turn discarded materials into valuable resources.
The partnership reflects a shift from conventional waste disposal practices towards a system that prioritises waste separation, recovery, recycling and resource utilisation.
Sustained participation critical to success
The success of the initiative will depend not only on the availability of waste collection infrastructure but also on consistent public education, effective monitoring and the active participation of traders and other market users.
Addressing concerns about the capacity of collection facilities and ensuring reliable waste transportation will also be important to preventing waste from accumulating in the market.
The Assembly’s commitment to sustained engagement and possible additional logistical support is therefore expected to play an important role in strengthening implementation.
Through the partnership with GAYO, the initiative seeks to improve market sanitation while promoting a more sustainable approach to waste management—one in which waste is increasingly treated as a resource rather than a problem for disposal.
Source: www.climatewatchonline.com
