Composting plants to be established in selected areas


The government is intensifying its collaboration with Denmark to establish composting plants in selected urban communities where there are challenges with liquid waste disposal, President John Dramani Mahama, has announced.

Already, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Accra Metropolitan (AMA) and the Danish Government are working on a project known as the Ga Mashie composting facility for liquid waste disposal.

The plant, which will be operated on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, is expected to produce compost which will be used for agricultural purposes.

The President, yesterday, inspected work on a model composting plant being established with Danish technology at Korle Gonno in Accra.

 President Mahama said it was unacceptable for liquid waste to be dumped into the sea and rivers when they could be turned into useful agriculture products.

“So when this model plant is fully operational we would want to apply this technology in other parts of the country where they have problems with the dumping of liquid waste,” he said. Lavender Hill

The place where the traditional method of discharging liquid waste into the sea in Accra is done is referred to as Lavender Hill.

The practice is environmentally unfriendly and poses serious hazards to both human and aquatic lives.

To check the practice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) went to court and obtained judgement against the AMA to discontinue the disposal of the liquid waste at Lavender Hill. 

To prevent a situation where the AMA chief executive could be cited for contempt of court, President Mahama said the government was going to support the AMA to “as soon as possible” process 100 per cent of liquid waste into compost.

“In the next few months we will have to process 100 per cent of liquid waste and stop this practice,” he said.

When that was done, President Mahama said it would make the environment in Accra a safer place to live in. Danish Trade Minister

The Danish Minister of Trade and Development, Mr Mogens Jensen, said Denmark was ready to support Ghana to use green technology to advance the country’s development.

He expressed the hope that the cooperation between the two countries would grow deep into the future.

The Chief Executive of AMA, Mr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, said every day, at least 170 septic tanks of human waste were dumped into the sea, adding that the composting project was, therefore, a welcome development.

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