The Demand for Solid Waste Collection in Accra: A Willingness-to-Pay Study

In Africa, many countries face various environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, low levels of sanitation, and solid waste issues. City populations of these countries have grown very fast because of migration toward cities. Ghana, especially Accra, is one of the cases in Africa. In Ghana, the government started privatizing solid waste collection during the mid-1990s. Since then, Accra has been served by both the public and private sectors even though these services are neither effective nor efficient. The purpose of this study is to investigate the individual attributes of the demand for solid waste collection in Accra. The data were collected using questionnaires to understand residents' characteristics of those affected by solid waste. Our results lend support to the conjecture that improved reliability of garbage collection service as well as better governance of relevant public and private institutions are key components of future policies to improve solid waste management in Accra.