THE Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO) has called for increased climate financing and improved waste management systems to enable Accra to collect and process 400 tonnes of organic waste daily under the Accra Lowering Organic Waste Methane (LOW-M) initiative.
The initiative seeks to reduce methane emissions and turn organic waste into useful products such as biogas and compost, thereby reducing the volume of waste dumped at landfills.
The Accra LOW-M initiative forms part of a collaboration involving GAYO, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), C40 Cities and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) to transform waste management and cut waste-sector methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030.
Speaking at a roundtable in Accra yesterday, the Project Coordinator of GAYO, Ms Fathia Selasi Charway-Glover, said achieving the target would require coordinated efforts by government institutions, private businesses and civil society organisations.
She stated that the plan was ambitious and would require adequate climate financing, institutional support and practical waste management solutions to achieve its objectives by 2030.
Ms Charway-Glover noted that the separation of organic waste at source was a key policy measure needed to make the initiative successful.
According to her, more than 55 per cent of waste generated in Ghana was organic, much of which ended up in landfills, where its decomposition produced methane.
“Over 55 per cent of the waste we produce as a city is organic waste, and the gas produced from its decomposition is methane,” she said.
She also stated that the traditional approach of transporting waste to landfills and finding new disposal sites when existing ones became full was inadequate to address the environmental challenge.
She explained that the programme would involve institutions and waste generators, including schools and restaurants, to ensure that organic waste was properly separated, collected and processed.
The Project Coordinator cited GAYO’s decentralised organic waste management initiatives as examples of practical interventions that could be expanded to support Accra’s target.
Ms Charway-Glover said the initiative aligned with the Global Methane Pledge, which seeks to reduce methane emissions as part of broader efforts to limit global warming.
The Deputy Director of Waste Management at the AMA, Mr Victor Kotey, explained that weak waste collection systems and limited institutional authority over some emission-producing sectors were undermining efforts to achieve the targets under the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
He noted that Ghana’s NDCs outlined measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Mr Kotey said although the country still had time to meet the 2030 deadline, the current pace of implementation was insufficient.
He noted that the Assembly had been unable to implement about half of its planned activities due to various constraints.
The Deputy Director further indicated that one major challenge was the transport sector, which was a significant source of emissions.
According to him, effective waste collection was essential to achieving other climate objectives, including separating waste at source, expanding composting capacity and providing engineered landfill facilities.
He stated that the effects of climate change were increasingly evident in the form of intense heat, heavy rainfall and periods of drought, making collective action necessary.
BY PRINCE ADDO FRIMPONG AND HILDA NSAMI
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