DOMPOASE LANDFILL IN THE KUMASI METROPOLITAN AREA OF GHANA: A ‘BLESSING’ OR A ‘CURSE’?

Abstract

The challenge of managing solid waste effectively is becoming crucial in the Kumasi Metropolitan Area largely due to rapid urbanization, poor financing capacity of authorities and lack of safe waste disposal sites. More than 90% of solid waste generated was not properly disposed off until 2004 when the Dompoase Landfill was constructed to be the final disposal site for all the wastes produced in the metropolis. The project has been hailed as a ‘blessing’ from the point of view of costs, location and environmental impacts. Waste in the landfill is also to be used to produce energy and fertilizer through composting. However, the operation of the landfill has come with very daunting challenges as people who reside close to it and the general public has put up fierce resistance in an effort to protect their right to live in a healthy and hazard-free environment. The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the benefits as well as the health and environmental effects of the Dompoase Landfill. Using mainly qualitative techniques, this study shows that the Dompoase Landfill has been a source of livelihood to peri-urban agriculturalists that use the fertile lands on the fringes of the landfill despite the much anticipated negative environmental and health effects. The paper concludes that though the landfill has been a source of 'blessing' to some actors, it can also be a 'curse' due to its health hazards.