Mr Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, has inspected the various landfill sites across the city to see the status of the sites and its impact on the environment.
The Minister and his entourage visited the Patang, Oblogo, Sarbah and Agbobloshie landfill sites.
Addressing the media after the tour, he said the assignment was set out because of the number complaints received by the Ministry from residents who live around some of the landfills adding that their homes had been invaded by flies and smoke.
He said the Ministry was reviewing the waste management system in the country and was trying to get different approaches to waste management taking advantage of modern waste segregation technologies.
“Israel has the most modern waste segregation, so we invited them last month to inspect all the landfill sites so we can have some discussions around how we could deploy waste segregation technologies more efficiently”, he said.
The Minister said “we have also received a request by companies that are looking to convert waste to energy, given that as a country we now have a major energy issue, so we are exploring all the options that exist for converting waste to energy’’.
Mr Ayariga said the Government would engage the assemblies, scientist, investors and people with the technical capabilities to help use these technologies.
He said there is the need to engage the private sector to appreciate that waste is now a resource and if well managed, people could profit immensely from the waste.
He said that the assemblies who request for permit for landfill site would be notified on what the new options were, and the Ministry and the Environmental Protection Agency would demand a commitment to ensure that the project is sustained.
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