Socio-demographic characteristics of participants
Twenty-three supervisors and 12 managers were included in the analyses from the two waste companies. The average age of the participants ranged from 31- 40 years. The majority of participants were educated to the senior high school level. Further details of participants’ socio-demographic characteristics are presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Socio-demographic characteristics of participants
Characteristics
|
Description
|
Company A
|
Company B
|
Age
|
21-30
|
3
|
2
|
|
31-40
|
12
|
4
|
|
41-50
|
6
|
2
|
|
51-60
|
4
|
2
|
Gender
|
Female
Male
|
3
22
|
1
9
|
Years worked in company
|
1-5
|
6
|
10
|
|
6-10
|
17
|
-
|
|
11-15
|
2
|
-
|
Highest educational level
|
Senior High School
Tertiary
|
15
10
|
8
2
|
Job role
|
Manager
Supervisor
|
10
15
|
2
8
|
The themes that emerged from the study
Three key themes that emerged from the analyses were organizational, community, and contextual factors influencing waste management in the Ho Municipality. Organizational factors that influenced waste management included organizational capacity, resources, and expertise. Community factors included socio-cultural beliefs influencing negative attitudes of residents and a low sense of responsibility towards solid waste management. Contextual factors included rules, regulations, and the enforcement thereof (Figure 1). The details of the themes are presented in the subsequent sub-sections.
Figure 1: Framework of factors determined in the study to influence waste management practices.
Organizational factors
Inadequate solid waste infrastructure and capacity to deal with the process of waste collection
The managers' and supervisors’ who participated in the study avowed that the manual manner in which waste collection and disposal activities are undertaken in the Municipality poses a challenge to the effective and efficient collection and disposal of solid waste. Participants mentioned inadequate equipment to undertake routine waste collection activities, leading to over-reliance on labor-intensive procedures as a common feature of solid waste management processes in the two companies. The participant reported that solid waste collection trucks, compactors, and other heavy-duty equipment needed for effective solid waste management are mostly inadequate given, the large volumes of waste generated in the Municipality on a regular basis. Participants indicated that occasionally when their trucks break down, large volumes of solid wastes are not collected leading to frequent occurrences of cholera and other dirt-related infectious diseases. Most study participants mentioned the insufficient number of public waste bins for temporal storage of waste at some collection points, often leading to indiscriminate disposal of waste by residents.
… We have solid waste management problems in the municipality, because of the inadequate number of the equipment for collecting and disposing of waste (Manager, Company B)
… Non-availability of solid waste bins for the urban residents to dump solid waste in the Municipality lead to poor sanitation(FGD Supervisor Company B)
With regard to the transport of solid waste, participants reported that the common modes of transport for solid waste management in the Municipality is the use of simple tools such as tricycles and wheelbarrows, particularly when financial constraints make it difficult to collect and dispose of large quantities of waste using skip loaders and compactor trucks.
… we use tricycles, power tillers, three-wheeled tractors, and headloads to collect waste in places by manual sweeping and transporting to dumping sites. (FGD, Supervisor, Company A)
Participants reported that solid waste disposal methods presently used include landfilling, open burning, and dumping of solid waste at open disposal sites. These methods are often described as “archaic” and not effective. Participants mentioned that incineration, composting, and recycling were some of the best practices in waste management; however, they were not practiced in the Municipality due to lack of expertise, engineering knowledge, and funds. The lack of capacity to adopt some of these best practices for managing solid waste explains the use of “archaic” practices.
… over here, we are still practicing the archaic method of managing solid waste by landfilling, open dumping, burning and burying (Manager Company A)
Lack of expertise/skilled workforce
The waste companies are not able to attract personnel with the required skills because of poor conditions of service and remuneration to staff in waste companies. Study participants in both IDIs and FGDs identified inadequate staff with the requisite technical expertise and training to undertake effective supervision and educational support of activities aimed to improve solid waste management processes in the Municipality. They reported that because of their low educational background, they lack requisite skills/expertise, and capacity to train workers and to support the design of educational strategies to influence residents’ positive behavioral practices on solid waste management. The lack of expertise and skilled managers and supervisors is believed to be due to poor remuneration, resulting in the low attraction of skilled workforce to the sector.
Ehhh we have problems attracting qualified and dedicated personnel to the sector, because of poor payment of wages and the tediousness of the job (FGD, Supervisor Company B)
Hmm because of our low educational background, only a few of us the managers, and supervisors have knowledge in the proper standard of solid waste management practices. The majority of the managers and supervisors depend on posters or leaflets prepared for solid waste management.(Manager Company B)
Financial factors
The participants mentioned inadequate funds to purchase equipment and to meet other recurrent expenditure needs such as fuel, personal protective equipment (PPE), and emoluments as major impediments to effective solid waste management. It was also reported that the majority of urban residents are not willing to pay for solid waste collection, as they feel that they do not get the needed services. The failure of local government authorities to meet their financial commitments to private waste companies on a timely manner impacts negatively on the sustainability of private waste companies and their ability to undertake frequent waste collection and disposal in the Municipality. One identified bottleneck for the inability of local authorities to timely pay waste companies engaged to manage waste is because of the inadequate collection of sanitation levies from residents and delays from the central government in allocating funds to local authorities to manage waste. Participants reported that they get low returns on investments from sanitation levies although urban residents complained of the high cost of sanitation levies which average GH¢ 300 (USD$ 56) per year.
Participants stated that some urban residents dump solid waste indiscriminately in places such as open drains, and along the streets instead of dumping at appropriate waste collection points that require fee-for-service charges, because of the perceived high cost of sanitation levies.
… the fees we charge are high and most urban residents find it difficult to pay, so they still do illegal dumping of refuse. Anytime it rains, they put the waste into the running water (FGD Company B).
…how we get funding is that we have a contract with the Municipal Assembly and the Municipal pays for solid waste delivery services. However, we have to pre-finance the solid waste collection before we are paid and the Municipal struggles to pay us and thereby delaying effective solid waste collection (Manager Company A)
Perceived low sense of responsibility towards managing solid waste
Attitudes and risks perceptions of the community towards solid waste
Negative attitudes of urban residents towards environmental sanitation in general, coupled with the perception that public waste will be collected by “the government” was highlighted by participants as a challenge to waste management in the study setting. The participants attributed these negative attitudes and perceptions by the urban residents to a lack of awareness and education on proper solid waste disposal and the potential effects of poor environmental sanitation on health and wellbeing. Some participants explained that the majority of the urban residents are unaware of associated risks and harmful effects of improper waste disposal to human life and the environment.
The challenge is the human attitude towards waste management. Because people dump waste indiscriminately, people will carry refuse from their homes and dump it outside the container, instead of dumping it inside. They claim the waste company will come and collect.’(FGD Company A)
The participants further indicated that the urban residents hold the views that the local government authority is responsible for the collection, and final disposal of solid waste through their waste management departments, and their Environmental Health and Sanitation Department. Indiscriminate littering is perceived as acceptable by community residents since it offers the opportunity for people to be employed by the waste companies. Managers and supervisors avowed that most residents of the Municipality are not interested and willing to pay for the services of waste collection and disposal provided by waste companies but only feel responsible for the cleanliness of their homes.
Some of the urbanresidents will intentionally litter solid waste, and say that if they don’t litter solid waste, the waste companies who are responsible for managing solid waste would not have work to do (FGD Company A).
The community thinks it is the responsibility of waste management companies to keep the environment clean and will litter indiscriminately (Manager Company B)
Participants revealed that limited behavior change communication (BCC) activities to sensitize residents on best and safe practices of solid waste management in the Municipality contributed to poor attitudes and low-risk perceptions of the community towards solid waste management. Relating to BCC activities, participants cited inappropriate communication channels when communicating messages on environmental sanitation to residents and limited access to information on safe and hygienic solid waste disposal methods, as attributable reasons why some residents have poor attitudes and perceptions towards solid waste management.
We announce a way that is not clear when we are in our moving vehicles with our old equipment (Manager Company A)
We have poor communication channels and limited access to information to the urbanresidents for them to support and take part in proper solid waste management (Manager Company B).
What we can say is that we do not provide adequate education and awareness raising on proper solid waste disposal to the urban residents, which is also a cause for the challenges of solid waste management (FGD Company B).
Environmental/contextual factors to solid waste management
Contextual factors
Weak enforcement of environmental rules and bye-laws by local government regulatory agencies was mentioned as a bottleneck to the effective management of solid waste in the Municipality. The majority of the discussants spoke on how legal-political barriers tend to hamper effective solid waste management processes. Managers and supervisors perceived that existing (bye)-laws were ineffective due to misunderstanding regarding roles and responsibilities among regulatory agencies. The Environmental Health Unit under the Ministry of Local Government feels responsible in part and the Environmental Protection Agency that has the final authority to take action on offenders is located under the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology. The location of two agencies in different ministries, both responsible for environmental sanitation was noted as creating a weak regulatory framework. Also, respondents revealed that the waste companies hardly conduct effective monitoring and evaluation of routine activities, which hinders their ability to provide support and supervision of staff directly involved in waste collection.
There is a lack of proper coordination amongst regulatory agencies tackling solid waste and other environmental issues and this affects waste management activities. (Manager Company A)
Weak enforcement of existing laws by local authorities tend to hamper our work as implementers in the field of managing waste. Often, we also face political interferences when we try to take legal action against residents or institutions not adhering to state laws on environmental sanitation (Manager Company B)
Socio-cultural beliefs influenced community attitudes and practices in waste disposal
Participants indicated that socio-cultural practices, norms, and beliefs contribute to negative attitudes of community members towards solid waste management. Another belief held by residents was the feeling of limited there was limited time or space to dispose of waste during the day-time. They reported dumping of waste at night is often preferred since these practices are covertly done. These beliefs resulted in solid waste not being disposed of in a timely and appropriate manner. Thus, piles of solid waste continued to build up in communities.
The community and some of the residents believe that sweeping is not done in the night since it brings bad luck and poverty to the community (FGD Company B).
… the lack of involvement of the community to participate and cooperate with the waste companies in solid waste management can lead to indiscriminate solid waste disposal (Manager Company B)