Effects of Financing on Solid Waste Management at the Local Level

Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Economy - Environment economics, grade: 64.3, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, course: Development Planning and Management, language: English, abstract: Solid waste management is one of the major challenging issues in developing countries. The study identified the effects of financing on solid waste management in the Kumasi metropolis. Purposive sampling technique was used in this work. Whiles multiple instruments were employed for the data collection. The respondents were basically staff of the Metropolitan Assembly¿s waste management department, staff of Private Waste Management Companies, Individual solid waste collectors, Bus terminal operators/Managers and Market users/hawkers. In all, a total number of Seventy-one (71) respondents were interviewed. It was discovered that all actors have very high level of commitment to achieving a sustainable solid waste management.

However, the low level of technical and financial capacity of actors coupled with other factors impedes their operations. The total cost burden of solid waste management in the metropolis is shared among the KMA, private waste management companies and the clients. The KMA receives financial support from some foreign organisations, tipping fees at the landfill site and tricycle operators¿ charges for disposal while private waste management companies are financed through service charges, loans from financial institutions and other investments by the companies. However, clients¿ unwillingness to pay charges as well as high cost of private waste management company¿s operations does not help them financially. High dumping charges also deter people from dumping at sanitary sites and securing a bin which resort to indiscriminate dumping.

To help mobilise, access and manage available funds for solid waste management, generated waste should be given value by the KMA and waste management companies to pay for its management resources. Clients must be educated on the importance of payment for service delivery by the KMA. While accessing funds, the companies must also deliver quality services which will entice clients to pay the charged fees and be ready to accept any future increment in fee paying. Companies should invest their profits in other profitable sectors in relation to environmental conservation through waste management to boost their financial strength. Finally, the Assembly should support the private waste management companies in charge of clean up, waste collection and disposal in the commercial areas financially to employ more people to undertake clean up exercises and acquire more logistics for waste collection and disposal.