Assessment of Waste Management in the Okaikoi North Municipality

Abstract

Sanitation is an important foundation for health, economic development and well-being hence waste management. The perception of household waste as unwanted material with no intrinsic value has dominated attitudes towards it management. Solid waste management in Ghana has become a major challenge to MMDAs due to urbanization and increasing population densities. Municipal Assemblies find it difficult to deal with the large quantities of waste generated, resulting in people resorting to indiscriminate dumping as the only means to managing their domestic solid waste. The objective of the study was to assess the management of waste in the Okaikoi municipality. The study employed a descriptive survey design and used questionnares for data collection. The sample size for the study was 303. The sampling method used was simple random sampling method. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. The findings showed different categories of wastes including organic such as food waste, plastic, textiles, metal, glass and other form of waste. It was revealed that organic such as food waste was the dominant type of waste generated within the municipality. The study concludes that majority of people leaving in the municipal have various forms of waste containers. The study recommends that waste should be managed on a community to community basis. The leadership of each community must map out how its waste is collected, stored, processed, and disposed of timely in a hygienic manner. This could be done by separating waste at the source so that contamination is prevented so that the work of community based volunteers and waste management agencies are facilitated.