Integrated Waste Management System as a Sustainable Option for Managing Plastic Waste in Ghana: The Case of Madina-La Nkantanan Municipality

Abstract

This study elucidates the current state of plastic waste management in urban areas of Ghana, with a particular focus on Madina-La Nkwntanan municipality. As a result of the current uncontrollable plastic waste challenge, the Government of Ghana, is seeking sustainable approaches to reduce th effect of plastic waste in the country. A number of arrangements, including various forms of privatization, tax regimes and public-private partnership have already been initiated as first step solutions to the challenge, yet management of plastic waste, has not been encouraging. Using a case study from one municipality in Ghana, this paper shows that domestic plastic wastes forms the second most generated wastes in the study area. The results show that the practice of separation at source, which is the first step toward dealing with plastic waste, was uncommon in the study area, although pockets of houses in the municipality and other places in the country practiced it. This article proposes the integrated waste management (IWM) concept, as one of the possible sustainable options that could help tackle the plastic waste issue in municipality. This is in view of the sustainable nature of the concept as well as its integrative way of dealing with waste. This reality has been confirmed by other authors in several countries.