The Participant in a group photo
A workshop on waste management financing has opened in Accra with the aim of creating a stronger connection between waste management projects and their financial implications to encourage investment and financial sustainability.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in partnership with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is hosting the workshop with support from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the Mayor of Accra, in his remarks at the opening ceremony on Thursday, said financing waste infrastructure was one of the greatest challenges facing cities which require large initial investment and adequate funds to operate what has been built.
He pointed out that waste management was faced by current projections for the future and that if nothing was done about it countries like Africa, Asia, and Latin America would continue to be engulfed with waste.
The Mayor shared with the participants efforts of the AMA to tackle waste management issues emphasizing that waste collection, safe disposal and recovery in the city had improved drastically.
“With the support of our private partners, two waste transfer Stations have been constructed to improve collection and recycling, we are collaborating with waste pickers and informal waste collectors, who have now become valuable allies in our waste management system,” he said.
Municipal Solid Waste Initiative Coordinator, Sandra Mazo-Nix, Climate Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), advised cities to prioritize waste as it relates to all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This she said would go a long way to prevent plastic pollution in the oceans, prevent the spread of diseases and ultimately achieve the global climate goals, stressing that, “diverting organic waste will lower methane emissions.
The Managing Director for Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Florence Larbi advised Ghanaians to place importance on waste as a resource because of its future value when recovered.
“The mindset and idea we have about waste is not helping at all. If we don’t see it as a resource, much importance will not be placed on it” she stated.
Thirteen cities from Accra, Addis-Ababa, Dar-es Salaam, Dhaka, Durban, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, Medan, , Kampala, Sao Paolo, Tshwane and Blantyre are attending this workshop.
BY Nadia Nimako