Environment

Currently in Accra, approximately 4500 metric tons of rubbish is generated by the public each day.

That is enough to fill 85 40-foot shipping containers EVERY DAY.

Every year, enough garbage is produced in Accra that can fill 30,957 shipping containers.








The largest shipping container ship in the world, The Ever Ace, can hold 11,996 40-foot containers. It would take 2.6 of these ships to haul 1 years worth of garbage just from Accra.

It is estimated only about 10% of the garbage is collected and hauled to the landfill. That means only 8.5 shipping containers each day are collected and placed in a landfill.

Regardless of where the rubbish is deposited, decomposition results in methane and carbon dioxide being produced as well as being a breeding ground for disease (Malaria and Cholera) and pests such as Mosquitoes.


Because some of rubbish contains heavy metals and pharmaceuticals, these materials can be leached into the ground water or washed into the streams when the waste is dumped in unauthorized dumping areas.


The 90% of the rubbish that is not collected and taken to the landfill ends up in the streets, gutters or in drainage ditches.

When rains come, the rubbish is washed into the drainage ditch, rivers and streams ending up in the ocean.



The rubbish that doesn’t float contaminates the ocean while the rest pollutes the beaches. This is approximately 4000 metric tons of rubbish each day going into the rivers and the ocean.



Decomposition of this rubbish material produces 1,100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

In addition to the rubbish, Accra has approximately 1,100,000 vehicles registered. From that, it is estimated that 10,600 metric tons of used tire waste is produced each year.

These tires are burned daily to recover the steel for the recyclers. This produces 1,261,000 metric tons of particulate material each year which cause adverse health effects.

Burning tires also produce 1,304 metric tons of carbon monoxide, 112 tons of volatile organic compounds, 43 metric tons of semi-volatile organic compounds and 47 metric tons of poly aromatic hydrocarbons.

Each vehicle needs oil change and it is estimated 11,183 metric tons of waste oil is dumped onto the ground.


Used oil contains high concentrations of heavy metals such as lead and zinc and lower levels of heavy metals such as aluminum, chromium, manganese, nickel, tin, and molybdenum coming from either the additives from the oil or from engine wear.

These metals can be leached into the ground water and drained directly into streams and rivers.