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<p>Rapid urbanisation in Ghana has outpaced municipal infrastructure, leaving cities like Accra struggling to manage daily waste. Municipalities and private waste management companies are struggling with significant uncollected municipal solid waste and a high reliance on unsanitary disposal methods. These problems result in serious environmental degradation (increasing greenhouse gas emissions from open dumping and burning) and public health issues. Despite Ghana’s robust legislative framework, a significant functional disconnect exists between policy formulation and local implementation. This study evaluated Ghana’s existing legislative frameworks governing its solid waste management system to identify systemic gaps and explore the potential to integrate informal waste pickers into a formal, inclusive, and sustainable circular economy. Employing a convergent mixed-methods research design, the study utilised a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data from 13 purposively selected expert stakeholders across different governing bodies. This allowed for a quantitative descriptive method to identify systemic trends and a qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended responses. This ensured a complete evaluation of the MSW governance landscape in Ghana. The findings reveal an institutional maze characterised by fragmented law enforcement, financial constraints, and the absence of formal monitoring systems. The findings also show that informal waste pickers lack recognition, social protection, and technical support. The study recommends data-driven modelling approaches that align and integrate institutional frameworks with inclusive social policies such as optimisation, multi-criteria decision-making tools, and life-cycle assessments. This paper provides an evidence-based roadmap for transitioning to a resilient governance framework, offering practical insights for building urban sustainability capable of addressing climate change.</p>

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Towards circular economy: policies and acts governing municipal solid waste management and innovation opportunities for inclusive solid waste management in Ghana

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年8月2日

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  • Marian Kusi-Appiah,
  • Francisca Kusi-Appiah,
  • Lirong Liu,
  • Richard J. Murphy,
  • Valentine Seymour

摘要

Rapid urbanisation in Ghana has outpaced municipal infrastructure, leaving cities like Accra struggling to manage daily waste. Municipalities and private waste management companies are struggling with significant uncollected municipal solid waste and a high reliance on unsanitary disposal methods. These problems result in serious environmental degradation (increasing greenhouse gas emissions from open dumping and burning) and public health issues. Despite Ghana’s robust legislative framework, a significant functional disconnect exists between policy formulation and local implementation. This study evaluated Ghana’s existing legislative frameworks governing its solid waste management system to identify systemic gaps and explore the potential to integrate informal waste pickers into a formal, inclusive, and sustainable circular economy. Employing a convergent mixed-methods research design, the study utilised a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data from 13 purposively selected expert stakeholders across different governing bodies. This allowed for a quantitative descriptive method to identify systemic trends and a qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended responses. This ensured a complete evaluation of the MSW governance landscape in Ghana. The findings reveal an institutional maze characterised by fragmented law enforcement, financial constraints, and the absence of formal monitoring systems. The findings also show that informal waste pickers lack recognition, social protection, and technical support. The study recommends data-driven modelling approaches that align and integrate institutional frameworks with inclusive social policies such as optimisation, multi-criteria decision-making tools, and life-cycle assessments. This paper provides an evidence-based roadmap for transitioning to a resilient governance framework, offering practical insights for building urban sustainability capable of addressing climate change.