Don’t shut Abokobi refuse dump, says Zoomlion
Shutting down the Abokobi refuse dump site in the Ga East Municipality will be detrimental to the management of waste in Accra, the Communications Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Robert Coleman, has said.
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“If it is closed now, Accra will be in crisis,” he stressed.
There have been heightening calls from residents for the authorities in the Ga East Assembly to shut down the Abokobi refuse dump due to the constant smoke and stench emanating from the mountainous heap of rubbish.
The Ga East Municipal Chief Executive, Mr John Kwao Sackey, has indicated that the process to decommission the site was on course but Mr Coleman insisted that closing the Abokobi dump site anytime soon would bring disaster to Accra.
Mr Coleman conceded that the refuse dump was full but added that shutting it down without an alternative site would wreak enormous environmental sanitation havoc on the people of Accra.
Mr Coleman explained that Zoomlion could not determine the closure of the dump site, but would prefer that an alternative dump site was found for Accra before it was closed down.
Currently, Accra generates about 2,500 tonnes of rubbish daily, out of which some are sent to the Abokobi dump site, which was opened 13 years ago as a temporary dump site for a small population at Abokbi.
Today, the dump site has become a major one, receiving refuse from all over Greater Accra, except Tema.
The rest of Accra’s solid waste is sent to the Tema engineered landfill site, 18 miles from Accra but that will change at the end of this year, as operators there have issued an ultimatum to all the assemblies to get their own landfill sites by the end of this year.
The remainder goes to the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant at Adjen Kotoku in the Ga West Municipality.
“Of these two facilities, Abokobi is the closest, which is about seven miles from Accra”, Mr Coleman stated.
Authorities at the Tema engineered landfill site have also issued an ultimatum to all assemblies, including Accra, to halt the dumping of refuse at the site by the end of this year.
“We realised there was too much pressure on the facility, so it was agreed at a stakeholders meeting that all the assemblies must get their own dump site at the end of this year,” he stated.
According to the site manager, Mr Elinam Ayensu Attuah, the assembly, in consultation with all the assemblies that now used the facility, had to take the decision to protect the lifespan of the only engineered sanitary landfill site in the Greater Accra Region.
He indicated that there was enormous pressure on the facility due to the volumes of refuse that were brought from other assemblies, adding that if care was not taken the facility, designed to last for about 12 years, may be full in just three years.
Operations at the Tema landfill site began in January, this year, and already, a total of 160,675.62 tonnes of refuse from all over Greater Accra have been dumped there.
According to Mr Ayensu, the landfill site received on the average a daily tonnage of 1,070.68, and during a brief closure of Abokobi, it received as high as 1,800 tonnes a day.
By Naa Lamiley Bentil/Daily Graphic/Ghana
Writer’s email: [email protected]
