Useful Waste CEO Calls for Waste System Overhaul

By Nii Trebi Hammond

The Chief Executive Officer of Useful Waste, Georgina Odoom, has called on government and policymakers to prioritise investments in Ghana’s waste management infrastructure rather than relying mainly on periodic clean-up exercises.

She said while nationwide sanitation campaigns can help improve environmental conditions in the short term, they do not address the deeper challenges affecting waste collection, treatment and disposal across the country.

Her comments come ahead of the government’s planned two-day nationwide clean-up exercise, which has renewed discussions about Ghana’s sanitation challenges following recent floods that caused loss of lives and extensive damage in parts of the country.

Speaking on the Roundtable Segment of the Business Breakfast on ZED 101.9 FM, Ms Odoom said Ghana must move beyond treating waste as a sanitation problem and begin to recognise its potential as an economic resource capable of creating jobs and supporting businesses.

She encouraged policymakers to study countries that have developed efficient waste management systems and successfully created economic opportunities from waste.

“If there are other countries that are making good use of their waste and they are creating employment and making money out of that, I think it is something we can learn from,” she said.

Ms Odoom cited countries such as Dubai and Singapore as examples of places where strategic investments and effective policies have helped transform waste management into a sustainable economic activity.

“There was another country like Singapore that is doing something meaningful with waste, so we can use the same approach to learn from them and implement some of those things here,” she added.

She argued that Ghana’s focus should be on developing a comprehensive waste management framework that includes improved recycling systems, better disposal facilities, stronger policy implementation and increased private sector participation.

“We are having cleanup exercises which are good, but the main issue needs to be tackled, and that is finding proper solutions to our waste management systems or sanitation issues in Ghana,” she said.

According to the Useful Waste CEO, businesses and investors should be encouraged to play a greater role in the sector by identifying opportunities within the waste value chain.

She called for stronger collaboration between government, industry players, engineers, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to ensure that policies are effectively implemented and translated into practical solutions.

“After the discussion, the practicality should be seen,” she noted.

Ms Odoom also raised concerns about the country’s waste disposal capacity, questioning whether existing landfill infrastructure can adequately support large-scale clean-up initiatives without further investment.

“Where are we going to dump all this waste that we are going to collect from our various communities? It is going to end up at the landfill sites,” she said.

She stressed that expanding landfill capacity and investing in modern waste treatment systems should be considered a priority to prevent the accumulation of waste after collection exercises.

Her comments add to growing calls for Ghana to transition towards a circular economy approach, where waste reduction, recycling and resource recovery become central components of national development.

While the planned clean-up exercise is expected to provide immediate improvements in sanitation, industry stakeholders insist that sustainable progress will depend on long-term investment, effective regulation and the creation of a waste management system that delivers both environmental and economic value.