MAPPING THE REALITIES OF WASTE CRIME IN URBAN GHANA.

Abstract

The management of solid waste in Ghana is daunting. Despite the introduction of new technologies including waste-to-energy projects, poor solid waste management (SWM) and its signifiers still dominate the daily lives of the people. This article uses the concept ‘waste crime’ to discuss the negative practices associated with SWM in Kumasi, Ghana. Specifically, it presents the nature of waste crime and how it can be minimized using empirical field data obtained from household heads and institutions involved with SWM through the mixed method design. The results revealed that waste crime was pervasive, existed in many forms and occurred along the entire SWM chain. Poor implementation of policies, insufficient enforcement of environmental regulations and lack of punishment on infractions for illegal SWM were identified as contributing to the phenomenon. The paper argues that if the negative practices associated with SWM are not discussed in the context of crime, policy suggestions on the phenomenon in Ghana might be incomplete