EXECUTIVE Secretary of the Environmental Services Providers Association (ESPA), Ms Ama Ofori Antwi, says the organization is currently generating less than 40 per cent of its estimated revenue due to people’s inability to pay for waste collected.
Despite the waste produced daily, there was a huge drop in services from commercial clients such as those in the hospitality sector due to suspension of services, in the wake of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking during a virtual meeting organized by the ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recommended the establishment of a centralized revenue collection and electronic payment systems which could facilitate revenue collection for waste management service providers.
According to the UN agency, due to the likelihood of infectious waste generated in households, it was important for waste to be segregated at source to reduce the risks of infection among waste collectors.
The UNDP also called on stakeholders to create awareness on waste segregation to encourage households to separate potentially infectious waste such as cough tissues and used face masks from other domestic waste, before collection.
Dr Edem Mahu, Lecturer at the University of Ghana noted that “COVID-19 is increasing household waste as people are staying at home”. Therefore he encouraged everyone to stop mixing all wastes together.
The UNDP again recommended that collective effort was needed to protect frontline waste collectors (both formal and informal), by providing PPEs, specialized training on handling of potentially infectious waste as well as COVID-19 testing, as some may have been already exposed due to the nature of their work.
Speaking from a local government perspective, Chief Sustainability Advisor at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Desmond Appiah mentioned that the AMA was also identifying local champions to rapidly communicate the need for behavioral change, including social distancing and hand washing in public places.
The participants strongly recommended a collective effort to protect frontline waste collectors (both formal and informal), for example through the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), specialized training on handling of potentially infectious waste as well as COVID-19 testing, as some may have been already exposed due to the nature of their work.
For waste management service providers in the sector, the pandemic has resulted in significant drops in revenue and they called for stimulus packages from government to sustain their businesses. These, they said, could include grant facilities and tax waivers to support their operations.
