Environmental Health Officer at La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA), Francis Lawrence Tetteh, says the assembly lacks the needed staff and logistics to manage the volumes of waste generated in the municipality.
Mr Tetteh expressed this sentiment last Wednesday during a crucial meeting held by the assembly with waste service providers to discuss the improvement of waste collection in the assembly.
He said that only one of the two compaction trucks was in a good condition, adding that eight out of the 12 skip containers were in good condition.
On staffing, Mr Tetteh indicated that the assembly has a staff strength of 81 which is inadequate.
The meeting, according to Daniel Nkrumah, the Municipal Coordinating Director of LaDMA, sought to offer service providers the platform to discuss the challenges they face in their line of duty, and also find ways to collaborate with the assembly for effective waste management in the area.
Mr Nkrumah said it also offered the opportunity for participants to brainstorm on the general sanitation situation in LaDMA and to prescribe practical steps to improve it.
“We are all here to discuss the challenges of sanitation in LaDMA, share ideas and also find practical steps to effectively prevent littering and indiscriminate disposal of waste in the assembly,” he said.
The Coordinating Director said the assembly was worried about the increasing waste disposal especially plastics in the drains, on roads and other places which creates problems for the assembly.
He said prioritising proper sanitation was one of the means to attract tourists and other business operators due to the serene environment in the area.
Mr Nkrumah noted that the meeting was to specify the roles of stakeholders and service providers in the waste disposal chain to enhance proper waste disposal.
“Participants are to come up with ideas to engage stakeholders such as households, factories, hackers and others who generate waste to know how to and where to properly dispose of their waste to ensure a clean environment,” he said.
Mr Nkrumah said a final report on the meeting would be submitted to the general assembly for approval and implementation.
A participant, Mr Kwame Foster, expressed the hope that that the forum would map up strategies for waste treatment, especially plastics as an income generating business.
Mabel Naa Laryea, another participant, was of the view that there must be steps to engage the waste generators on the proper separation of waste for easy disposal.
BY VICTOR A. BUXTON
