The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Resilience Team in collaboration with the 100 Resilience Cities team and counterparts from Dalberg have paid a visit to the Zoom Pak Ghana, managers of the Achimota Waste Transfer Station in Accra.
The working visit is to enable the team see at first-hand the operations of the waste transfer station in addressing the sanitation challenges of the city.
The city of Accra joined the 100 Resilience Cities Network in December 2014 and is currently in the process of developing its Resilience Strategy.
Mr Haruna Sulley, the Operational Manager, ZOOM Pak Ghana briefing the delegation on their activities said the facility was the first of its kind in Africa.
He said the facility compresses the waste brought to it and then send it to the landfill sites in Tema.
He said initially, the waste companies were not patronising their services but with the intervention of AMA, they had started utilising the facility.
He said there was a lot of logic and cost effectiveness in patronising their facility, since companies have to travel a far distance to offload their waste.
He said on a daily straight shift, they collect waste of 400 tons but with their three shift system, they collected waste of 1,200 tons with a staff of 30.
The Operational Manager said enforcement of AMA bye laws on sanitation was the key to waste management in the city.
“We need to have more of such transfer stations in the city to address the waste management challenges,” he added.
Mr Desmond Appiah, the Chief Sustainability Advisor, Office of the Mayor said it was a win-win solution for the city of Accra to address issues of waste management.
He said AMA was also monitoring the activities of the company to enable them comply with the city’s rules of engagement.
“The City is pushing for more waste transfer stations in the City to reduce the time of travel to the land fill sites,” he added.
He called on the company to take into consideration the concerns of the public as regards their operations in the community.
He said currently the city has four transfer stations in operation and they were considering a mobile transfer station as another option.
Currently, the City of Accra generates 2,500 tons of waste daily.
Source: GhanaWeb
