A senior research fellow at the Institute for Environmental and Sanitation Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr Ted Yemoh Annang, has called for sustained investment in the country’s waste management infrastructure, particularly the establishment of landfill sites designed to serve generations.

According to him, Ghana currently lacks standard landfill facilities capable of managing waste effectively over a long period, a situation he said poses a major challenge to efforts to improve sanitation.

Speaking on JoyFM’s SMS programme on Monday, July 13, Dr Annang said developing properly engineered landfill sites with long-term capacity is critical to addressing the country’s growing waste management concerns.

"One of the attributes of waste is disposal. So once it is generated, all of us will put the waste into some corner, and what we are not doing is that we are not diverting the waste, especially the degradable portion, which forms more than three-quarters of the waste so from collection straight to landfill site.

These landfill sites are to be built to last for over a certain period of time, but because we take everything there before that lifespan, it is full, and we are not even building the proper type of landfill sites. Landfill sites are supposed to take care of a lifetime, it is to take care of the end of life," he said.

"We must manage the waste," he added.

His comments follow the second day of the national clean-up exercise launched after recent flooding caused widespread destruction in parts of the country, particularly in Accra.

Dr Annang stressed that while clean-up exercises are important in restoring affected communities, a sustainable sanitation system requires long-term planning and infrastructure development.

He urged authorities to prioritise the construction of modern landfill sites as part of broader efforts to build a cleaner and more resilient Ghana.