Over 90 waste-disposal trucks are stuck at Kpone Landfill site because persistent power outages means an electronic weighing machine cannot clear the truck to unload tonnes of waste.
Mr. Robert Coleman, Communications Director of Zoomlion Limited told Myjoyonline.com, power outages has rocked operations of the Landfill site for some time now and has made work difficult for their operations.
A generator that powers the machine has also broken down.
Meanwhile, waste collectors and managers say the issues with solid waste management could get worse if the Gh¢16 million debt owed them by government is not settled anytime soon.
Ghana’s waste management system relies on contracted private waste collectors to dispose off waste on behalf of the local government. The waste is disposed off at designated sites including the Kpone Landfill site.
According to Mr. Coleman, only 40% of Accra’s 2,500 tonnes of waste is collected. Leaving the city sinking in 60% of its solid waste.
This comes at a time when a determined rainy season could compound the city’s health problems by spreading uncollected waste into homes and markets.
A statement by the ESPA noted: “Currently, the Kpone Landfill Site, the only engineered landfill in the Greatar Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), is operating under capacity largely due to the rising indebtedness by the government, now about Gh¢4 million to the operator. We wish to state that the money has been outstanding since 2012”.
