Background of the Study

Analyze the Challenges to Establishing Biogas As An Alternative Energy In Accra, Ghana.

Biogas is defined as the mixture of methane gas (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) that can be used as clean and renewable source of energy for cooking and generation of heat and electricity. Biogas can further be upgraded to bio-methane that can be used as the major fuel for transportation. Moreover, biogas digest, a nutrient rich reside formed following the digestion of the biogas can be utilized or organic fertilizer and/or soil conditioner. This chapter will present a concise overview of the overall research while providing a brief outline of the topic that will be researched. The chapter will initiate via providing the background of importance of waste management, how waste management helps to reduce environmental pollution followed by importance of biogas. Next, the chapters will provide a detailed analysis of the problem behind the effective waste management and gaps in the research. The gaps in the research will help to generate the aims and objectives of the current research along with the rationale of the research.

Energy is an indispensable part of daily life and in the majority of times taken for granted by the group of population, which enjoy the luxury of the modern society. This luxury by a group of population has increased the demand of energy in the global scale. Such that, millions of households and communities especially those residing in the developing countries lack adequate source of basic energy like natural gas, liquid fuel and electricity.  At least 20% of the world’s population do not have access to electric supply  and approximately 3 billion people depends on solid fuels like firewood, cattle dung, crop residues and coal to satisfy their cooking requirements. In the perspective of Ghana, Africa it can be said that a number of households who are dependent on traditional solid fuels are increasing with the growth of population and this has further outpaced the number of new electrical connections. In the absence of new governmental policies to support adequate access to advanced energy services, as additional of 220 (approx) million people residing in the developing countries will depend on traditional means of fuel by the end of 2030. Biomass, which comprises of at least 15% of the global energy demands accounts for about 90% of household energy consumption in Ghana . Although, government is spending a significant amount of money for the installation of the power structures, the majority of the population residing in Ghana, Africa remains disconnected from the grid. Moreover, per capita energy consumption is frequently observed as the part of the development index and is extremely low in developing or under developed countries like Africa in comparison to the developed countries. As population in the African sub-continent continues to grow and urbanize, the management of waste will become the major issue at the national and local level . In Africa, lack of proper solid waste and sewage management system poses a major threat to human health and environment . Despite large expenses over the infrastructure, the urban areas of the majority of the developing countries are still struggling with the challenges to restrict irreparable environmental damage. The lack of suitable management of organic waste is responsible for various ecological problems like soil pollution, ground water pollution along with air pollution with uncontrolled emission of methane (CH4) gas. Under this context, the application of the existing biomass like kitchen waste, cattle dung, green wastes, crop residues and organic fraction of municipal and industrial waste for generating clean and renewable energy through anaerobic digestion (AD) in African subcontinent would help to improve local environment, human health and other socio-economic conditions.

Problem Statement

Though waste management is an important source of biogas production, there lies several challenges in effective management of waste in Ghana. According to the reports published in Today Online (2014), waste management has become one of the significant challenges in developing countries including Ghana. Increase in the growth of population along with rapid rate of urbanization has resulted in the increased generation of huge volume of waste in cities of Ghana like Accra. The report of the Online Today (2014) is of the opinion that within a period of 15 years, Accra has developed very rapidly with the population amount resulting to 5 million (annual growth of 4%). This myriad growth of population has resulted in huge accumulation of the municipal waste followed by waste management problems. At present, 2800 metric tons of municipal waste is generated per day in Accra with only 2,200 tons collect and rest 600 tons are left behind to clog the drains, water bodies and thus resulting in flood. Moreover, 97% of all public owned and publicly managed sewage/fecal treatments plants are running out of service. On the other hand, only 4 out of 35 institutional treatment plants in the country are operational. Thus, it can be said that the municipal solid waste management in Accra Ghana is delivered in an unsustainable manner. This exerts significant amount of pressure on the strained solid waste management system and thereby reducing the rate of generation of potential biogas as the sustainable source of energy. Along with the weak institutional capacity, lack of adequate resources like human resource and capital, the city government authorities experience difficulties in ensuring that all the waste generate is comprehensibly collected and disposed for proper waste management. Home collection of waste is only restricted to high and middle-income areas. The poor are left behind to suffer with the problems. This discrimination of waste management creates unsanitary and unsightly environment in numerous parts of the city along with lack of effective generation of biogas for sustainable fuel. Apart from the governmental challenges there are challenges too. As highlighted by Online Today (2014), the are uncontrolled human settlement in Accra Ghana which leads to slum formation leading to the increase in the accumulation of solid waste. Moreover, there are lack of proper maintenance of sanitation facilities, culture along with lack of comprehensive coverage of central sewage system. Moreover, the general public resigning in Ghana has overall negative attitude towards the environment followed by inadequate infrastructure, poor planning of waste management program and unplanned human settlement. Online Today (2014) ahs also highlighted that there is a lack of political will to enforce laws on sanitation as proper by the Environmental Protection Act. Thus, there are major problem behind the effective waste management and thereby redirecting it towards the proper generation of biogas. Numerous problems are highlighted behind the lack of proper waste management but the significance and the rate of severity if each problems behind effective management of waste as not highlighted in details in previous published literature. Thus effective elucidation of the challenges lying behind the management of waste in Ghana will help in the proper generation of the biogas as the sustainable source of energy.

Rationale of the Study

Biogas is a renewable source of energy having a potential for diverse application like combined heat, heating, transportation of fuel and generation of power. In the developing countries, the main application of biogas is in the usage of bio fuel. In Africa, cooking comprises of 60% of the overall national energy of consumption. In the region of Ghana, cooking is mainly undertaken via burning of solid fuels like wood, cow dung, coal, crop residues and charcoal this is because there is no access to modern fuel for energy. In these households, the combustion of the solid fuel is done in a poor manner with poorly vented combustion devises like the open fire and traditional stoves. Moreover, incomplete combustion of fuels results in emission of the majority of the fuel energy as toxic pollutants along with small particles of different size along with the emission of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other semi-volatile and volatile compounds (formaldehyde and benzo-alpha-pyrene). Combustion of coal along with the emission of the small particles in air, results in the emission of the sulfur dioxide and heavy metals n air like arsenic and fluorine. According to the reports, published by The World Health Organisation (2012), combustion of the solid fuel is responsible for the high rate of air pollution, which again leads to the development of pre-mature death along with other health related disability. In contrast to this, use of methane (biogas), results in the generation of clean blue flame that is comparatively free from the toxic pollutants and is much hotter than fire evolved from the burning of the solid fuel thus helping in faster cooking. Lighting is the second most important use of the biogas after cooking especially in the areas, which are still devoid of the proper electric supply or electrical grid connections. According to the reports, published by Centre for Global Development (2017), the power sector domain of Ghana has been plagued with numerous challenges in the power supply resulting in a significant impact over the overall economic situation of the country. The World Bank ranked electricity as the second most crucial constraint in the business activity of the country and has estimated that Ghana has lost nearly 1.8% of GDP during the year 2007 due to crucial crisis in power . This power crisis has resulted in the power deprivation of the majority of the population residing in Ghana. According to the reports published by International Energy Agency (IEA) in the year 2016, nearly 35% of the population residing in the sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity. So in this context of extreme electricity crisis, biogas and be effectively implemented as the one of the major source of fuel for special biogas lamp and which consumes about 0-.07 to 0.14 m3 of biogas per hours and at the same time function satisfactorily under the constant gas pressure of 70-84 mm of water. Thus, proper generation and circulation of biogas will help to reduce the crisis of light among the population residing in Ghana. Moreover, electricity access does not only mean having a house connected with light or with electricity grid but also ensures reliable supply of affordable electricity to the entire household. Thus, the importance of the paper lies in the fact it helps to analyze the challenges in the biogas production from effective waste management procedure. The topic is of extreme importance because it will help biogas to evolve as one of the cost effective means of light source for the people of Ghana along with an important source of cooking fuel with extremely low rate of air pollution. Here the challenges mainly incorporate effective management of the waste. The practice of waste management has evolved over centuries. While in the beginning waste management mainly encompass affluent society but with the linkage of hygiene with the waste management, the concept of effective management of waste has now become a universal service. Moreover, a significant fraction of municipal solid waste is treated in order to generate energy the process popularly known as waste to energy (WTE). Thus overcoming of the challenges of biogas production through effective waste management will help the people residing in Ghana, Accra to get access to sustainable source of energy.

Aim of the study

The aim of the research is to analyze the challenges behind the effective production of biogas through waste management in Accra, Ghana.

Research objectives

• To evaluate the challenges of solid waste management in Accra Ghana
• To find the ways of managing the solid wastes generated from Accra Ghana by converting them biogas
• To evaluate the challenges of implementing biogas as an alternative source of energy in Accra Ghana
• To provide recommendations for improving the existing methods solid waste management in Accra Ghana

Research Questions

1. What are the challenges of solid waste management in Accra Ghana?
2. How solid waste can be effectively management to convert them into biogas in Accra Ghana?
3. What are the challenges of implementing biogas as an alternative source of energy in Accra Ghana?
4. What are the best possible recommendations for improving the existing methods of solid waste management in Accra Ghana?

Summary 

In summary, it can be said that be concluded that there are numerous challenges in effective management of biogas in Accra Ghana. Proper management of the solid waste not only helps in the clearance of the environment pollution but also will leads to the generation of sustainable source of energy, biogas. However, as identified from the literature there are numerous challenges in proper management of waste in Accra Ghana along with the proper utilization of the biogas as a source of energy. Significant literature support lacks behind comprehensive analysis of the challenges of the waste management along with comprehensive use and importance of biogas a sustainable source of energy. The research process will help in the elucidation of the problems behind the biogas generation and solid waste management and will recommend best possible ways for the subsequent improvement of the existing waste management procedure. The research is of outmost significance because it will provide a detailed set-up for the waste management and biogas production in the developing countries.

Literature reviewIntroduction:

The research question focuses on exploring challenges to establishing biogas as a potential energy source in Accra, Ghana. To proceed with the primary research on the topic in Accra Ghana, evaluating existing work on biogas and challenges in establishing it as an energy resource in other developed countries is important to inform research methodology for this dissertation. This would help to take make the right judgment regarding choosing appropriate  research design to achieve the research objective and select appropriate tools to collect data from target sample group. The plan for literature review is to start with broad topics related to potential of biogas as a sustainable energy source and then narrow down the discussion by analyzing research literature related to specific challenges faced by countries in using biogas as a sustainable energy source. Thematic approach has been taken to give idea regarding important elements identified from literature search.

Biogas as a sustainable energy source:

Biogas is one of the most widely used non-renewable sources of energy that can be prepared by the decomposition of the organic wastes. Biogas can be used to produce electricity and can often offset all the electricity needs for running the process facility, especially in the WWTPs, where high energy can be found in the waste stream. Animal manure, market wastes, wastewater and sewage, all can be used to produce biogas by anaerobic digestion.  Biogases are generally made from the bio-solids that are actually nutrient- rich organic materials that are obtained by treating the sewage sludge. Biogas can be prepared from the landfill wastes that are biodegradable or are also produced a digested gas being produced inside a bio-digester.  The types of wastes that are used as substrates for biogas are mainly the large number of the lignocelluloses wastes obtained from the municipal, agricultural and other activities. The biomass actually consists of fats, proteins, cellulose, hemicellulose that is used as the feed stocks of the biogas production.  As stated by another researcher, the increasing demand for the fuel and the high taxes on the various sources of energy has posed major concerns for the households and the economy of the nation. This has provided the scope of biogas production.

In recent times, co-substrates are also used to increase the organic content and thus achieve a higher yield of gas. It is prepared from the organic wastes by the process of anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion of the animal manure has been largely used for the production of the biogas. There are about 15 dairy manure digesters in the California, that are under development. However the author have argued that as per the investments returning from the energy production, the diary digesters had not been very useful, due to the low biodegradability and the biogas yield of the dairy manure.

According to a research study, biogas has emerged as a useful replacement for traditional biomass and food fuel as it is an alternative for a cleaner source of energy globally. The need for such renewable energy source emerged due to the increase in health risk and environmental risk associated with unsustainable woodfuel usage. Biogas has been embraced by many developing countries because it does not produce any particulate matter to pollute the environment and release less amount of carbon dioxide too. Due to such benefit, biogas technology has modified energy consumption status of many countries. The benefit of biogas in changing economy of countries is explored in detail by evaluating studies done in other countries.  

The review of a research study related to the use of biogas as a renewable energy source in Ghana suggest that Ghana has the right technical potential and biomass resource for biogas production. In the period between 2000 to 2005, energy supply in Ghana was met by high usage of woodfuels mainly firewood and charcoal. The study gave the idea that although there is no clear cut strategy for the promotion of biogas production, however many advances biogas technology such as biogas digester and biogas energy sources supports the country in getting a clearer source of energy. The benefits of biogas in Ghana have been identified in the area of agriculture, health, environment, employment generation and women empowerment. As farmers in developed countries are in need of fertilizer, the effluent coming out form biogas digester has helped in providing organizing fertilizer to farmers and increasing crop yield. In the area of health, biogas has reduced the likelihood of fecal borne diseases. In addition, the establishment of biogas plants also leads to employment generation and protection of the environment. The study finding is consistent with another research literature which also gave evidence regarding environmental, economic and social benefits related to biogas production. Despite these benefits, the study also pointed out to certain technical, economic and socio-cultural challenges in penetration of biogas technology in Ghana. Hence, this aspects needs to be explored in detail in future research so that all challenges related to biogas generation is addressed in the country.

The usefulness of another research work is that it gave a technological overview of biogas production from bio-waste in various countries across the world.. Biogas is a renewable energy source and it is produced by anaerobic digestion (AD) technology. Among developed countries, Germany is the pioneer in global biogas production and with emergence of advanced technology, many more countries have got involved in the process of developing new strategies to produce biogas for energy consumption. The research gave the example that certain European countries established favorable conditions for electricity production so that biogas could be easily produced without any disruption. In countries like China and United States, government has taken the strategy to promote use of cellulosic source for biogas production. Besides AD technology, the process of waste management also determines the success of countries in producing biogas. The waste type that has been used in European energy industry include animal manure, sewage sludge, municipal solid waste and food waste. Pretreatment of feedstock is important to prevent process failure and recent pretreatment technologies aim to increase biogas yield by making AD technology faster. It also gave idea about recent issues in biogas production by identifying gap between biotech research and commercialization. The strength of this research is that it gave good idea about recent advancement in AD technology and current issues in biogas production. By utilizing the information from this study,  this dissertation can explore level of investment in AD in Accra, Ghana.  This work may also promote flexibility in the production of biogas in different countries.

Another research literature is a comprehensive article that covers all important ideas about biogas productions and its development in developing countries. The main objective was to give an overview about biogas production and its applications, merits of the anaerobic digestion process, status of biotechnology in developing countries and opportunities and challenges of biogas development in developing countries. It showed that by using AD as technology for biogas production, green house gas emission has been reduced. Various biomass resources is the main substrate that yields biogas and developed countries are using tonnes of biogas from municipal, industrial and agricultural processes for biogas production. The study also gave an important recommendation that manure management can increase the potential for increasing greenhouse gas emission. By the review of challenges related to biogas production, it has been found that many countries have experiences issues in establishing biogas as an alternative energy source because of high installation and maintenance cost. It also proposed solution to address barrier to adoption of biogas technology by reducing construction  cost and increasing public acceptance of the technology. To improve access to biogas technology in rural areas, micro-financing strategies are also needed to make installation cost affordable for rural population.

Methods of managing solid waste in different countries:

Biogas is produced from various from of community waste like agricultural waste, food waste, municipal waste and manure and they are obtained from types of sources namely human, animal and plants. These resources yield valuable energy and the proper management of these waste resources determines the success of countries in biogas production. The importance of a research study by is that gave idea about waste management process by the use of anaerobic digester-based biogas production from various feedstocks. Anaerobic digestion process is regarded as an attractive option in municipal waste management because of its capability to transform organic matter into methane in an eco-friendly manner. The experimental analysis of bio-digester setup and the sample biogas produced in the Vellore, India revealed that different feed composition has an impact on biogas production. Secondly, the influence of temperature on biogas generation is also seen as high temperature results in better gas yield compared to low temperature. During the anaerobic digestion process for biogas production, pH variation  has an impact of different substrate. Hence, monitoring all the factors determine the success of waste management process for biogas production.

Waste to energy technologies has been considered as a solution to for tackling both the problems for meeting the energy gaps. It has been found that high temperature of the area together with the high moisture content and the high percentage of the organics makes the anaerobic digestion easier but the operational and the technical feasibility of the biogas systems in Ghana are not well developed  and their challenges and opportunities are still unexplored.

Despite the enormous benefits got from the biogas technology, one of the major problems is the dissemination of the biogas in a larger scale. Biogas production in a large scale involves proper construction, installation and operation of the biogas plants. As per the survey conducted, 58 % of the biogas plants were institutional, fourteen percentages were household units and the remaining 14 % were community plants. Some of the factors that involve the functioning of the biogas plants are the non availability of the dung, the breakdown of the balloon gas holders, lack of proper maintenance device, gas leakages, and absence of trained staffs with proper operational knowledge. Another study explained that AcoD process has been considered as an alternative system for resolving the disadvantages of the single substrate digestion system linked to characteristics of the substrates and optimization of the system. With the increasing demand of the AcoD technology the complexity of the treatment has increased and the characterization of the organic material has become volatile. Although the lignocellulosic wastes are the important feed stocks for the production of the biogas, the bio-refineries may face technical as well as economic barriers for the complex structure of the lingo-cellulose. Owing to the compact and the complex structure of the lignocelluloses, pretreatment are necessary to make the anaerobic digestion much faster. Hence it can be seen that the molecular structure of the solid wastes are also responsible for the efficiency of the biogas production. The researcher used a pilot scale pressing system for yielding more amount of biogas, hence such a system is still to be developed in Ghana. The narrow range of the enzymes for the enzymatic hydrolysis of the organic wastes can be considered as a problem.  However, this research identified several barriers to the diffusion of the bioenergy in Ghana. Another study compared the performance of the centralized and the decentralized bioenergy system in the rural China and have indicated to the fact that the cost of the decentralized biosystem outweigh the overall benefits from the system. Another study gave the evidence that low ambient temperature and the availability of water in the semi arid region of the country also contributes to challenges in biogas production.  Another study stated that  socio cultural factors such as objectives towards the collection of the human and animal wastes as raw materials are quite specific to cultures and values of certain regions and is not applicable to the other nations. There had been a high variation in the seasonal demand of biogas, which acts as barriers for the utilization of the biogas for the production of heat. Another potential factor is that there is a very limited number of filling stations for using biogas as a vehicular fuel.

One of the greatest challenges related to biogas production is the high production cost. The pretreatment and the use of better varieties of biocatalysts involve high costs. The upfront costs regarding the installation of the biogas plant in rural areas involves the construction, labor and the equipment costs that is quite high in terms of the rural households. There is a lack of purchasing power among the people that can act as a barrier TO the adoption of the biogas technologies in Ghana. The low revenue accrual act and the high capital acts as challenges for the small and the private producers. The economic viability of the biogas projects are mainly affected by the high interest rates and the lack of access to long term financing. The competition faced by the biogas technology is due to the low priced electricity got from the fossil fuels and the natural power plants. The operational costs of the biogas plants are much higher than the thermal power plants. Furthermore there are other energy sources such as the solar, hydro and wind energy that are much cheaper than the anaerobic digestion.

In addition, as this research is focused on getting answer to the research question for people in Ghana, reviewing research studies done in Ghana was important. One study was found relevant to give an overview about managing solid waste in Ghana by the evaluation of a biogas plant in Adeiso, Ghana. The process analysis of multi-phase anaerobic fermentation and digestion of fecal sludge in Ghana showed that anaerobic digestion process can act as an alternative pathway for converting waste into methane. Other innovative option related to conversion of waste into energy includes digestion into acidogenesis and methanogenesis, which can facilitate production of biofuels and biochemicals. In case of the biodigester plant at Adeiso, Ghana, the researcher mainly gave results for fecal sludge characterization, inoculators and reactor performance, process model calibration and final model configuration. The strength of this study is that it gave comprehensive idea about systematic process related anerobic fermentation and digestion of fecal sludge for biogas production. By the use of such process, future research work can gain more idea about ways to expand biogas production from community waste.

Challenges of solid waste management in relation to biogas production:

Studies done in Ghana have revealed that biogas technology dissemination has been unsuccessful in Ghana because of the failure of government to implement effective energy focused policies to support biogas technology. Lack of appropriate policy related to sustainable energy generation is the reason for poor biogas project monitoring, poor dissemination strategies and poor responsibility of owners. The examination of one specific research study investigating about solid waste management in urban areas of Ghana revealed about challenges to the developing economies of the country because of ineffective solid waste management. By the use of mixed method study and use of social survey instrument, research was conducted in Wa, the regional capital of Ghana. The analysis of interview data gave the insight that solid waste management services in Ghana are poor and disorganized. It gave two important findings that house-to-house waste collection process in middle and high incomes areas have poor infrastructural facilities. Secondly, the city is struggling to keep pace with the increasing volume of waste and changes in types of waste. This points out to the weakness of government’s actions to mobilize funds for solid waste management and lack of implementation of policies and regulation to make waste collection process efficient for biogas generation.

A research study gave justification about the level of challenges for waste management in Ghana, by conducting a feasibility study for biogas integration into waste treatment plants in Ghana. Although biogas technology is a viable technology for renewable energy generation, however economic efficiency of biogas integration in developed countries is dependent on investment cost and the overall cost of operating the biogas plant. The research evaluated the economic potential of biogas plant as an alternative to address energy and biogas challenges in Ghana. This was done by means of cost-benefit analysis of installing biogas plant. The significance of this study is that unlike other studies that gave detail only on investment of biogas technology in developing countries, however cost wise analysis in Ghana was not covered earlier. The study findings discussed about investment cost and benefits and the main finding was that the total cost of investment cost related  to unit biogas pant was $370 to $530. This amount clearly implied that installation of biogas plant is a capital driven process. Another challenges found for Ghana was that due to the instability of the exchange rate and weak currency, only the option for integrating biogas plant as a alternative source of energy was difficult. Hence, this finding indicates the need for government intervention so that that countries could achieve 2% penetration rate for biogas for cooking by 2020. This finding is consistent with research literature as another study discussed about the need for government to intervene to change the status of energy consumption in Ghana.

The process by which waste is managed and utilized in a sustainable way determines the success of biogas implementation process. The importance of a study done in South Africa is that it focuses on evaluating challenges in sustainable biogas implementation in low resource countries. Although advanced technology related to biogas production is available, however the main challenge is that there are many obstacles in effectively implementing such technology. The research hypothesis was that lack of awareness of the benefits of bio-digestion process influence biogas implementation in countries. To get idea about the impact and challenges of biogas implementation process, the researcher took the approach to first introduce the concept of biodigestion to the audience and then establish a household biodigester in the community of Gauteng, South Africa. In the second stage, all research participants were asked about their opinion about biodigestion as a sustainable energy source. The comparison of before-and-after installation’ process gave clear idea about the research topic. In the first stage related to awareness of biodigestion, many participants had hygiene-related concerns as they found biodigestion as an unhygienic process. However, the comparison of this view with post-installation opinion showed that majority of participants perception changes as they found no health risk in use of biogas technology. Another theme in the research was related to access to energy and before installation, people lacked awareness of about the benefits of biogas. However, after seeing the impact of biogas technology, the willingness of participants to change from traditional energy source to biogas was seen. With regard to the cost of implementation, the opinion of participants before implementation was that capital cost involved in installing the technology was  a major challenge for them. This showed cost is a barrier to effective use of the technology. The finding is similar to a study one in Zimbabwe and it showed that hand-on exposure to bio-digestion and education can positively influence the adoption process. In addition, the cost barrier related to the technology needs to be addressed by increasing financial support in target countries.

The process of urbanization has contributed to challenges in waste management process and maintaining energy demand in developed cities.  As production of sustainable energy such as biogas is dependent on availability and management of solid waste, a research study aimed to evaluate challenges and prospects of solid waste management in Ghana. This was important to gain insight into challenges related land use planning and infrastructure for waste management in urban areas of Africa.  In urban areas, one major concern is the rise in solid waste generation volume. Increase in population, urban growth rates and industrialization are the factors that contribute to rise in solid waste volumes and in case of Ghana, migration of people from peri-urban areas to Accra has increased waste stream of the city. The increase in solid waste increases the need for effective solid waste management process in Ghana. In regard to status of solid waste management process in Ghana, the researcher explained that management methods include collection and deposition of waste at landfills, recycling and composting. Although burning and burying are not useful approaches for managing solid waste, however these approaches are being extensively used by people and government institutions too. Waste reduction and waste recycling are sustainable waste management method. However in Ghana, little action has been taken in the area of waste reduction and waste recycling process. In addition, the main challenge for solid waste management in Ghana is that they do not have adequate capital needed to prudently manage wastes. City administrators struggle to get capital for waste management in a sustainable manner. Technological deficiencies related to modern technology for waste management also hinders Ghana’s ability to establish energy recovery plants. Hence, the research gave the indication that proper management of solid waste in Ghana would lead to employment generation and efficient generation of energy from waste.

Since the biogas is obtained by the anaerobic digestion of the solid wastes, one of the major challenges related to the production of biogas in Ghana can be the challenges faced in the management of wastes. Most of the countries face a lot of environmental challenges regarding the generation, inadequate collection, transport, treatment and the disposal of wastes. Another study states that currently Ghana cannot cope up with the challenges faced with the volume of the wastes generated due to the increasing urban population. Energy consumption is also another concern experienced by Ghana. The priority is to move out from the reliance of the waste dumps that covers no environmental protection to the waste management systems that aid to retain the useful resources within the economy. The author stated that poor planning, lack of proper enforcement, unplanned human settlements, lack of usable landfills, no incorporation of the rural areas and urbanizing in the incorrect way is the main problem behind the waste management system of Ghana. The researcher has emphasized on the fat that that ineffective policy outputs and outcomes also attribute to the improper management of wastes in Ghana. Although Ghana focuses on the improvement in the collection techniques and the disposal of the solid wastes, they necessarily did not cover all the elements of the solid waste management that involved the generation, collection, onsite storage, collection, transport, disposal, processing and the recovery of the solid wastes. As per the reports about 20 to 30 % of revenue has been used in the solid waste management and lower than 30% of the urban population lacked solid waste disposal services. Furthermore there had been reports of heaps of waste overflow that are left uncollected. Use of the raw materials for the biogas production relates to proper collection and sorting of wastes. Rapid urbanization of Ghana has affected the urban infrastructure and the environmental services that bring about un-sanitized environmental ambience. Some of the other important drawbacks regarding the inefficient waste management in Ghana is the inability of the government for streamlining the responsible organizations for achieving their mandates, poor urban planning regarding the access routes to waste removal and insufficient sanitation facilities.  A lack of political will has also been found to be associated with respect to the creation of awareness among the government. The technologies are also not updated for managing wastes.  As stated by another study, the wastes generated from the commercial market areas or household are highly heterogeneous in nature and vary widely in the physical characteristics. This heterogeneity of the waste materials poses a problem in the utilization of the wastes as raw material. Hence, before subjecting the wastes in to meaningful treatment procedures, they should be subjected to proper fractionating techniques. Co-digestion of the different materials can increase the process of anaerobic digestion because of the proper carbon and the nutrient balance. It has been found that the digestion of more than one of the substrate in the same digester can help in building up the positive synergism, as the added nutrients helps in supporting the growth of the microbes required in anaerobic digestion (3).Anaerobic digestion of the organic solid wastes requires a reliable management of the wastes.

Methodology forms a key part of the dissertation and describes broad philosophical underpinning the research methods that have been selected. Furthermore, this section will also include whether a qualitative or quantitative approach is being applied for analyzing the research. The overall purpose of the research was to determine the challenges that are faced by the people of Accra, Ghana, while implementing solid waste management practices. Furthermore, the research also aimed to evaluate the challenges related to biogas implementation, in the form of an alternative source of energy in the region. The research will be based on a qualitative approach that will facilitate gaining a deeper understanding of the underlying reasons, opinions and motivations that are relevant to the problem statement. Furthermore, the qualitative research will provide insights into the research problem and will assist in the formulation of major hypotheses or ideas, for conducting the potential quantitative research.

This type of research will also facilitate the process of uncovering trends in the opinions and thoughts of the people, living in Ghana, and will dive deeper into the issues they face, while conducting waste management programs. Data collection methods that pertain to qualitative research often differ. Most commonly used methods include group discussions, individual interviews, surveys and direct observations. This research method will cover both factual and meaning levels. Such qualitative data will reveal essential perspectives and attitudes of the sample population that cannot be accessed, upon implementation of a traditional quantitative approach. The exploratory nature of the qualitative research will permit the process of gathering relevant information on specific areas that pertain to the research, through intensive dialogue between the respondents and the interviewers.

A qualitative approach has been selected for this study due to two reasons namely, (1) it is large and exploratory in nature, and (2) the primary objective was to gain an insight into a matter where there is lack of adequate literature on the association between waste management and biogas production, in Ghana.

The research will be based on an inductive approach or inductive reasoning that will begin with the observations. This will be followed by proposing theories at the end of the research process, as a direct manifestation of the observation. The type of research approach will involve a search for a distinct pattern, from the observations and will also lead to development of explanations. No hypothesis or theories would be applied for the research, at the beginning of the study. Furthermore, the approach will also aim to generate a set of meanings from the data that have been collected, with the aim of identifying the relationship and patterns for drawing conclusions. The process of inductive reasoning is most often based on learning from experiences. Moreover, inductive reasoning approach will begin with a detailed observation of the study sample that will move towards more generalisable ideas and abstracts. While conducting the data collection method, primary relationship between the observations and the research objectives will be identified. Hence, this research approach will encompass a ‘bottom-up’ method where the findings will be used for building an abstraction, which in turn will describe the a broad picture of the phenomenon that is currently being investigated (challenges of waste management and biogas practice).

Sampling

There are no specific rules that should be kept into consideration while selecting sample sizes for a qualitative research. Sample sizes most often depends on the purpose of the study, the credibility and usefulness of the sample and the available resources and time. Five variables were identified that could lead to restrictions in the sampling, such as, financial restriction, limited time frame, geographic restriction, and limitations in the number of interviewers. The time frame was roughly one week, with limited budget. The research was geographically limited to the regions of Accra, Ghana. Only one interviewer was involved in distributing and collecting responses of the questionnaires that were challenged by the constraints of limited access to confidential information related to efforts taken by the waste collection companies.

The sampling technique was based on non randomization of the participants. Non randomization or non-probability sampling refers to the sampling procedure, where the respondents or participants are gathered in a way that fails to provide all individuals equal chances of getting selected. It is difficult to random sampling is always difficult to achieve. Most often the research studies are bounded by money, time, and workforce, which in turn create difficulties in randomly recruiting the sample from a larger population. The basics of convenience sampling formed the foundation of recruiting the sample, who were provided with the questionnaires. With convenience sampling, the samples were selected owing to their accessibility. This sampling technique was cheapest, easiest, and least time consuming. Benefits of this sampling method that facilitated conduction of the research included swift collection of the data.

This was particularly useful due to the fact that little preparation was needed. Furthermore, the technique facilitated ease of the research, since the questions were directly distributed to the target group. However, some disadvantages related to this sampling technique include potential bias sue to under-representation of the major subgroups and lack of sufficient power to identify the existing differences between the population subgroups. Initially, the selected sample comprised of 15 participants that included environmental health officer, ICT engineer, accountant, sales representative and residents. However, some of them refused to answer to specific questions. Hence, the final data was composed of answers given by 9 individuals.

Open ended questionnaires

The questionnaire was framed by keeping open ended questions. These questions cannot be answered with either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Hence, they help in generating an appropriate response. The statements were framed in way that encouraged the sample to provide answers that were based on their thoughts and feelings. Although the questions were not framed in a technical manner, phrases or words such as, “Why”, “Does”, and “How” implicitly asked for responses from the sample. These general open questions present in the questionnaires optimized the quality of the gathered data and offered a range of benefit such as, increasing the response rates. This allowed the sample to voice their opinion and also provided the opportunity to the researcher to ask for information or clarification. Furthermore, there might be certain issues on which the researchers would want to provide more information. Failure to uncover such issues might lead to bias in the results. Thus, the open ended questionnaire was formulated with the aim of allowing the respondents to present their perceptions regarding the waste management and biogas practices that were being followed in their locality.

Data analysis

The qualitative data that was retrieved by distributing structured questionnaires to the respondents were analysed on the basis of a thematic approach. A thematic synthesis of information was selected for this purpose. Information that was gathered by collecting responses to the pre-framed questions that were presented in the form of an open ended questionnaire will be organized, based on specific theoretical concepts. Hence, different sections on waste management techniques currently being practiced, waste collection as business activity, training programs for waste management and waste management challenges or problems from household perspectives will be built. In addition, the thematic synthesis of relevant research findings will help in segregating the themes from the primary organizational strategy. Hence, the themes would contain exhaustive information on the underlying factors that are related to the problem statement of waste management and biogas implementation challenges in Accra, Ghana. The high-level themes that will be segregated from the data findings will be widely disseminated towards a range of major stakeholders, such as, the environmentalists, authorities of the waste management companies, sales representatives, and residents. This will facilitate appropriate decision making regarding environmental practices and will also help the authorities to make necessary amendments for waste management practices in the region.

Ethics

The appropriateness of one’s behavior in relation to the rights of the individuals, who become the major subject of a research project, needs to be determined. A list of ethical considerations was taken into account while collecting responses from the sample. Following is the list of core ethical principles that were considered in the qualitative research:

• Respect towards the autonomy, dignity and decision-making of all participants.
• Beneficence – Taking efforts to minimise the physical, psychological and social risks. Maximizing the benefits that are experienced by all research participants.
• Justice – The participants were selected from a population that was considered beneficial for the research.
• Respect for communities – The interests and values of the community, to which the respondents belonged, were safeguarded and valued.

Further efforts were taken to include the respondents based on their informed consent and voluntary participation. The ethical principles guaranteed that the participants gave free will to provide responses to the questionnaires, and were completely informed regarding the procedures involved in the research project. An introductory statement was provided along with the questionnaires that provided relevant information regarding the objective, intent, sponsoring organization and potential use of the research. Thus, the potential respondents were fully informed, prior to filling in the questionnaires

Results

The result for the given study is represented from the interview that has been conducted from 9 environmental officers in the region of Accra Ghana. The research questions are set to collect optimized information from the respective officers and sales representatives. The data is represented in the tabular forms by identification of themes that are derived from each questions of the research.

Waste Collection Questions pertaining to households/industries
Research Questions	Keywords	Themes
1. Is there a good communication relationship between household/Industries and garbage collectors? State the types or forms	Communication between garbage collectors and households	Communication and relationship between stakeholders of waste management and collection in Accra Ghana
2. Inferring from question 1, are there flyers or communication tools through which waste management groups relate with households/Industries?	Communication tools for waste management
5. Would you consider the relationship between household/Industries and garbage collectors a respectful one? If yes, why? If no, why?	Relationship between household and garbage collector
3. What type(s) of waste collection agreement exist between household/Industries and garbage collectors?	Waste collection agreement	Agreement between the stakeholders of waste management and their respective obligations
3. What are the obligations of household/Industries to each agreement mentioned in question 2?	Obligations  to agreements
4. Have waste collections companies any obligations towards waste collection? If yes, to what extent?	Obligations of waste management
6. Do household/Industries consider waste collection a business activity or a traditional practice?	Waste collection as business activities or traditional practice	Actual purpose of the waste management activity and  the ways to achieve the same
7. Do household/Industries consider waste collection an approach to getting rid of epidemic and the spread of diseases?	Waste collection and epidemic disease
8. Do household/Industries consider waste collection a patriotic duty to the community/city?	Waste collection as patriotic duty
9. What motivates households/Industries to commit to waste collection besides getting rid of waste?	Motivation of waste collection
10. Can you cite any example(s) of training programs through which households/Industries get acquainted with waste management systems?	Waste training program (acquainted)	Purpose of the waste management training program and seminar
11. Can you provide an example(s) of seminar or workshop where households/Industries were exposed to advantages of waste management systems?	Seminar of waste management program
12. Can you cite any example(s) of training programs through which households/Industries were briefed on waste management systems?	Waste training program (Briefed)
14. In general, how are waste problems resolved at the community level? Whose responsibility it is to take action? Households/industries or waste collection department? And why?	Waste management at community level	Collection of waste management at community levels and their advantage
15. What are the advantages of resolving or improving waste collection system problems at the community level?	Advantages of waste management at community level
16. When waste collection is improved who takes the initiative, households or waste department? Give reasons for your answer?	Initiative for waste collection
17. Enumerate waste management problems from the household perspective?	Waste management challenge
Section B – Research Questions Garbage Collection Questions pertaining to waste collection department
1. What is the vision of the waste management department?	Vision of waste management	Vision of waste management and its utility towards the sanitation problems
2. What is the vision of the waste management department toward sanitation in the community?	Waste management  and sanitation
3. The relationship with the community, is it business for profit or commitment for resolving sanitation problems?	Relationship of the waste management with sanitation problem
4. What will you consider as important sanitation problems? Can you list them?	Essential sanitation problems
5. Would you describe household/Industries as partners needing training?	Training for household industries	Training and information needed for waste management collection and techniques
6. What type of training would the household/Industries require to complete the task of waste management?	Training types for waste management
7. What critical information would you say household/Industries lack regarding waste management?	Lacking critical information
8. What will you describe as successful waste management relationship?	Waste management leadership	Effective waste management and leadership practice
9. What will you describe as improved waste management practice?	Developed waste management practice
10. What is unique about your waste management activities different from other communities?	Unique waste management
11. What are the current tops ranking problems confronting the department of waste management?	Top issues in waste management	Management and workforce issues in the context of waste collection
12. Would you describe work force capacity as one of the problems affecting the performance of waste management activity?	Work force capacity issues
13. Are the communities aware of your recycling technology campaigns?	Awareness  of waste management technology	10. Awareness and effectiveness of the waste management techniques along with the respective strategies
14. What support would you need to revamp effectiveness of waste collection in the city?	Effectiveness of the waste management study
15. Is there any new program, short- or long-term that can boost waste management?	New program for waste management
16. What strategy will improve waste collection relationship with communities?	Improvement of waste collection

Theme 1: Communication and relationship between stakeholders of waste management and collection in Accra Ghana

From the information that is collected from the interviews of the environmental officer, engineers in the Municipality of Accra, Ghana, it is clear that there are both formal and informal modes of communication between the household and the garbage collectors. On the other hand, the sales representatives believe that there are no types of communication between the same. The communication is one of the important elements that exists between the garbage collectors and household or industries that helps in the development of formal agreement between the same. It is therefore possible to generate high levels of income for both household. However, there are issues that are encountered due to the same as the accountant in the interview has expressed the views about the poor forms of agreement.  

According to the ICT engineer of Accra Municipality, due to informal and irregular forms of communication, it is not possible to maintain effective forms of agreement for proper methods of the garbage collection. The sales representative has also highlighted the fact that that in spite of using flyer or advertisement as the mode of communication, it is not possible to deal with the agreement issues between the waste collectors house hold or industries. Therefore, the main purpose of the agreements according to the environmental officers is to ensure that all the solid wastes generated from the house hold activities are collected properly. In most of the cases, the collection occurs within door to door basis. The payment for this collection is either done at the end of the month or weekly basis. The garbage collector therefore get the benefit either weekly or monthly basis. It also depends on the volume of garbage that is collected from each household or industries. The payments will also depend on the volume of garbage collected in each of the houses. According the municipal workers the levels of dedication of the garbage workers is dependent on the level of payment or tips that are given to the garbage collector. This will also have direct impact on the agreements that are made in the formal waste management planning.

Theme 2: Agreement between the stakeholders of waste management and their respective obligations

As mentioned in the earlier section, the agreement that occurs between the stakeholders of waste management is dependent on the level of communication that occurs between the same. The obligations of the waste management companies in the matters of waste collection are dependent on the terms and conditions of the agreement. According to one of the worker in the Accra Municipality the level of obligations and challenges in the agreement is mostly dependent on the punctuality of the garbage collector. The level of capacity to accept the garbage also has a significant impact on the agreement. This is due to the fact that the engineer has highlighted on the fact that the extent of garbage acceptance is dependent on the capacity of the waste management companies.   

The accountant at the municipal department has raised the fact that payment at the administrative level is one of the main causes of the obligations in the agreement of waste collection. In most of the cases, the waste management companies are not able to pay the proper amount to the garbage collector. The accountant has also highlighted that most of the garbage collectors do not agree to have payment make on monthly contract basis. It is also one of the main strategies of the companies in the waste management companies to have agreement of short period that will help them to quickly process of the wastes. As the payments are done on daily basis, one of the major obligations are limited to the total number of days that are takes part in the waste collection process.

The ICT engineer has said that the obligations are limited to the areas from where, the wastes are collected. In the areas, where the communication systems are not well equipped the garbage collectors are not able to reach on everyday basis. Nevertheless, the garbage collectors have ensured that they are able to reach to those places at least once in week in any of the fixed days. It is therefore not possible for the people of those areas to completely avoid the consequences of harmful effects of the wastes. The garbage collectors only agree with the fact only if they are allowed to pay every month on the timely basis.  

Few of the municipal workers has not been to make comment as they have not felt any forms of obligations related to the garbage collection. The obligations however, can be overcome by the companies as they agree to make higher level of payment to the garbage collectors.

Theme 3: Actual purpose of the waste management activity and the ways to achieve the same 

The actual purpose of waste management activity is related to both business and traditional practices that are related can help in the actual types of wastes that are generated from household and industrial purpose. This is one of the major issues that can lead to the higher level of conflict for the actual purpose of the waste management. The ICT engineer has agreed with the fact that business activity is the primary purpose of waste management. On the other hand, the municipal workers who participated in the interview have agreed that it is important to focus on both traditional and business activities and associated with waste management. It is therefore possible to reduce the harmful effects of waste through both domestic and industrial activities.

The business activity of waste management is mainly associated with the economic development of the nation. This fact has been agreed by the sales representative as they believe in the commercial usage of household and industrial waste. Most of the interviews participants have also agree to the fact that, with proper waste management technique it is possible to avoid all form of epidemic diseases. Hence, the purpose of waste management is not only for commercial uses, it can also help in the purpose of dealing with health care safety of the population in Accra Ghana. On the other hand, it can also be said that waste disposal and household scale can be made without the assistance from industrial activities. This is mainly possible due to effective ways of waste disposal at the household scales. Here, most of the people are able to process there on daily household wastes by dumping them on the ground without disposing the same in open air.

ICT engineer, the municipal workers along with the sales representative have all agreed to the fact that most the main purpose of waste disposal and management activity is strictly restricted to business usage rather than patriotic activities. It is also important to mention that waste disposal activity is a matter of subject, as the environmental officer in the municipal department has highlighted about the importance of raising the Awareness of the public about properly disposing the wastes. Therefore we said that responsible citizen organization will do consider the activity of waste management as a patriotic duty. This fact is also agreed by the accountant, who did consider that with patriotic level of motivation it is possible to increase the awareness level of the public about proper waste management techniques.

The health officer along with the ICT engineer has agreed with the fact that the main source of conservation of waste management is associated with avoiding sickness that are caused due to the pollution of Industrial and domestic unwanted particles. Hence, the level of motivation that are provided by the public is mainly raised by high level of awareness of the public. Therefore important to focus upon the traditional needs of waste management that can help to control epidemic diseases caused due to poor environmental condition.

Theme 4: Purpose of the waste management training program and seminar

Most of the interview respondents have agreed to the fact currently there are no forms of formal training that are given for the purpose of waste management and dealing with the issues of same. There are also no formal workshops or awareness program that are related to provide information about the techniques that are used as a part of the waste management program. The municipality in Accra Ghana is able not able to provide the planning to the households that is needed to manage the harmful effects of the domestic wastes. This will not allow the people of the local area to understand the importance of the same in the context of the current global business environment.

There is also no forms of workshops that will help the people and stakeholders to understand the importance of waste collection to covert the same in biogas for meeting up with the demand excessive energy. Out of all the interview participants only the accountant has agreed on the fact that in the metropolitan areas, there are some forms of educational program that are needed to understand the importance of the waste management program. The education program is believed to be the most effective ways that are implemented to provide higher levels of training to the workers in the waste management companies.

Few of the interview participants that include the municipal workers were even surprised to hear the questions about the waste management trainings. This is one of the most important highlighting points as it is not possible for the workers to understand the need of the waste managing as the respective authorities are not even planning to include the respective needs of the training program. It can be said that within the recent events, it is also not possible for the waste collectors in the Accra region to gain the high end skills needed for improving the existing waste management programs.

Theme 5: Collection of waste management at community levels and their advantage

The accountant has agreed on the fact that it is essential to implement the waste management plan at the community levels will mostly help to deal with the small scale issues that are related to the waste management activities. Nevertheless, the waste collection department needs to play the most important role in dealing with the issues of collecting garbage from each community in the region of Accra. The major advantage of the same is to deal with the issues of disease that are spread through exposure of the harmful wastes that are spread through the industrial and household activities. It is the duty of the waste management department to deal with the issues that can help in overcoming most of the essential matters in the context of garbage issues in the management levels.

The sales representative has emphasized on the fact that the waste management department needs to pay the most important role in the primary activity of waste collection. This will help to ensure that the awareness levels of the local people are raised about the given matters. The purpose of the same is to deal with the higher level of challenges that are mainly caused at the community population. There are additional benefits of the waste management program at the community level that helps to prevent the breeding ground of the germs in the context of the given environment. The municipal officers have also agreed with the advantage of minimizing the risks of disease outbreaks that is mainly caused due to the high amount of garbage disposals. In order to deal with the issues, it is crucial to enumerate the issues of garbage collection. The municipal worker needs to use garbage collection bins that are needed to increase the process of waste collection. The major issues in the context as highlighted in the interview of the environmental officer are due to the delays that are caused in the process of garbage collection. The waste collectors also face the issues of huge volume of waste generated from the household activities. It is also important to highlight the issues that are faced by the garbage collectors during the rainy seasons.

The ICT engineer has provided the solution of the waste management by proper disposal in the dumping ground. There needs to have special dumping ground, where the waste management department are able to dispose of the wastes in the particular grounds that are dedicated to the waste management activities. The engineer has also recommended the solutions of waste management that is dependent on the individual level of activities. This is due to fact that the nature of the wastes that are generated depends on the type of activities. Hence, the waste disposal system needs to vary depending on the nature of the wastes and its effect on the respective environment.  

Another major issue that has been highlighted by the municipal workers is due to the busy schedule of the garbage collectors. It is therefore not possible for the collectors to collect all wastes from every parts of the city. This therefore increases the risks of wastes exposure. It is also essential to note that according to the waste disposal worker at the municipality, majority of the garbage are generated from the house hold activities.

One of the essential strategies suggested by the environmental officer in order to enumerate issue of waste management is to separate combustible and noncombustible garbage. Failing to do the same will be one of the major issues in the waste management techniques. The head of the environment officer has suggested the technique of segregating household and industrial waste, which will help in separation of garbage depending upon their chemical properties. This is mainly due to the fact that type of waste generated from Industrial and household activities are quite different. It is therefore essential to process the same using different form of techniques. In a given context, the accountant has suggested the policy of separating the waste depending on their perishable property. It will never be possible to separate the west depending on their biological nature, which will help to segregate degradable and non-biodegradable waste.

Hence, the major advantage of dealing waste management technique at the community level is to raise the awareness level of the people in community and provide the garbage collector with the skill of separation of wastes depending on their nature and the effects they have in the local ecosystem.

Conclusion 

After execution of the research, it can safely be concluded that major challenge in waste management in Accra Ghana is mainly due to the lack of awareness level among the public. The challenge of waste management is also associated with the difficulties encountered by the nation in the matter of implementing Biogas as an alternative source of energy.

In order to properly conclude the research, it is important to link the findings of the research with the objectives. The findings will also be related with the existing literature that has been discussed in the above section. Therefore, it will be possible to provide proper recommendations, which will help to overcome the challenge of waste management control in Accra Ghana.

Linking with objective: To evaluate the challenge of solid waste management in Accra Ghana

Finding section has focused on interview analysis from the data that is collected from environmental officer and Municipal workers in Accra Ghana. There are other participants, which includes ICT engineer and accountant from the municipal department. The opinion of sales representative has also been evaluated for the same purpose.

After analysis of the finding, it can be concluded that lack of formal communication between the household and garbage collectors in Accra is one of the major issues at the primary level of solid waste management. There is also lack of proper official agreement for the purpose of garbage collection. The lack of communication between the garbage collectors and household staffs cannot be resolved due to additional factors resulting in the lack of awareness among the people. Due to lack of proper communication there is also formal relationship between the garbage collectors of the waste management Industries with that of the common public. Other major challenges at the primary level include lack of proper training among the garbage collectors, who are not able to distinguish the lethal effects that are associated with the waste products collected from households and industries. As a matter of fact, the municipal workers are not even aware of any training program that is recently planned for raising the awareness level of the garbage collectors.

There are no forms of awareness program that are planned by the municipal corporation in Accra. The workshop programs are also not generated which can help to provide proper information to the public about the ways that can be incorporated in domestic house for proper waste disposal. There is however, additional benefits, which are due to the fact that waste management techniques, are implemented at community level. This is mainly due to the fact that people are aware about the epidemic diseases that are caused due to the disposal of waste in unplanned ways.

From the section of literature review, it can be concluded that in Ghana the challenge of waste management is highly related to the conversion of the same to biogas. The nation currently does not possess the technology that is needed to integrate biogas production from solid waste that is generated from both household and industrial purpose. In spite of the ongoing research work, the existing technology related to the conversion of biogas from solid waste is not economically beneficial under the current situation. Hence, the government has to face the challenge of higher level of cost in waste management techniques and conversion of the same to usable form of biogas. The instability in the manufacturing sector, due to frequent changes in the internal economic environment is another major challenge for implementing effective waste management techniques. It can therefore be concluded that under the current circumstances, it is not possible to generate sustainability for the waste management companies in Accra Ghana.

The process of urbanization is another major challenge, which can be linked with the findings of the current research work. From the finding section, it can be concluded that due to lack of commutability, it is not possible for the garbage collectors to gather wastes from all regions in Ghana. This increases the risk of environmental degradation. Nevertheless, the rapid urbanization process has helped to improve the process of garbage collection, as the waste management companies are able to recruit more number of people in the duty of garbage collection from both industrial and household sections.

Education to the people in Ghana Accra

People of Ghana have erroneous perception about the solid waste management in the country. They regard all forms of solid waste to be used for landfill site. On the other hand, consequently, the majority of the waste management companies which are expected to gain profit from the conversion of solid fuel into useful resources have just become a medium for collection of solid waste. Thus proper education of the population residing in Ghana along is mandatory for the effective management of the waste. The people of Ghana must be first enlighten with the concept regard how the accumulation of the solid waste or non-proper disposal of solid waste can lead to the generation of high environmental problems creating problems to their day to life. This education regarding the environmental issues in relation to solid waste will help to generate awareness among the population and thereby causing proper disposal of the waste. The people of Ghana should also be educated in the domain of different types of waste like non-biodegradable waste, bio-degradable waste and potentially harmful waste. This education will further help them to dispose the waste as per the classification and thereby helping the waste management company to manage the waste effectively without taking much effort in differentiating the waste. However, it must also be taken I to consideration, that the people who spent majority of the time thinking that how they will  earn their daily living, are more likely to satisfy indifferent about the prospective threat of the environmental pollution. This is because, their mind is already pre-occupied with the thoughts and anxiety of their won earning, food and communication and hence for them thinking about environmental pollution is a luxury. So under this scenario, proper education in the domain of biogas will be helpful to generate awareness in effective management of waste. Enlightening the people of Ghana, Accra about how biogas can act as an cost effective alternative of solid fuel and how it act effectively use as a substitute of light (biogas lamp) in comparison to electric lamps will help to grab the attention of people of Accra Ghana quickly. Moreover, people must also be educated in the domain of how waste can act as a source of income for the citizen if the avenues are generate for some component of waste in return of money. For example, sachet water bags, empty bottles and other forms of plastic bags and bottles could be returned for cash money and this may act as a source of employment for people. As a whole, the citizen of Ghana Accra must consider the solid waste as an important source of income and not just a dispose for landfill.

The people or the agencies who are concerned with the waste management or the governmental organization responsible for the collection of waste must also come forward towards effective management of solid waste. Here the governmental organization must equip their employees who are assigned for waste collection with proper uniform, gloves and masks. This will  help the reduce the high rate of employee turnover, as the majority of the labor working as waste collector, tend to leave their job due to lack of proper infrastructure. Moreover, they solid waste collectors should also be given proper education in the domain of different types of waste along with their importance of proper disposable this will not only help to increase their awareness in the domain of waste management but will also serve a medium of exchange of information among the people of Accra Ghana who lacks proper insight about waste disposal. It has also been highlighted that the waste management employees are less likely to pay visit to the remote areas for collection of waste due to lack of proper transportation. Hence, it will be the duty of the governmental organizations to equip their team with proper vehicle will standard mileage so that they can easily commute to the remote areas for the collection of waste. The government must also revise certain polices in the domain of waste management so that the overall funding coming the private organization in the domain of waste management increases and thereby facilitating effective generation of sustainable source of energy

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