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Government intensifies efforts to expand landfill capacity as Ghana tackles rising waste volumes, with new facilities planned for Greater Accra and the Eastern Region.
📍 Greater Accra & Eastern Region | JONES NEWS
Ghana’s growing waste management challenge has pushed the government to intensify efforts to expand the country’s disposal infrastructure, with plans for new landfill facilities in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions forming part of a broader strategy to improve sanitation and prevent the accumulation of waste in communities.
The announcement comes at a time when pressure on existing landfill facilities has become increasingly visible, particularly in Greater Accra, where rapid urbanisation, population growth and rising consumption continue to generate large volumes of municipal solid waste.
The government has also announced a wider national waste-management reform programme that includes expanding engineered landfill capacity, improving waste transfer stations, providing waste bins to households and using District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) equipment to support refuse evacuation.
The renewed attention to landfill infrastructure follows months of concern over the capacity of existing disposal facilities and the difficulty of moving waste efficiently from densely populated communities to appropriate final disposal sites.
Pressure on Existing Landfill Infrastructure
The situation in Greater Accra has become particularly urgent.
In June 2026, Local Government Minister Ahmed Ibrahim said the 25 Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area were generating approximately 4,400 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day, equivalent to about 1.6 million tonnes annually.
The minister said waste generation could rise to approximately 5,186 tonnes per day by 2036, making early investment in additional disposal and treatment facilities necessary.
The figures illustrate the scale of the challenge facing Accra and surrounding municipalities.
As more people move into urban areas and economic activity expands, the amount of household, commercial and industrial waste generated also increases. Without corresponding investment in collection, transportation, recycling, treatment and final disposal, waste can quickly accumulate in communities.
Authorities have therefore increasingly focused on the need to strengthen the entire waste-management chain rather than relying solely on waste collection.
Kpone Landfill Under Pressure
One of the most pressing concerns has been the condition and capacity of the Kpone Landfill.
In February 2026, the Local Government Minister warned that Kpone, which serves the eastern corridor of Accra, was approaching full capacity.
At the time, the minister said the landfill was the only dumping site serving 10 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in that part of Accra and warned that failure to act could create a serious sanitation problem.
The government has since indicated that Kpone is full and is being prepared for decommissioning.
During a September 28, 2026 inspection related to waste evacuation, Local Government Minister Mahama Ayariga said the government was planning new landfill facilities in both the Greater Accra and Eastern regions.
He also indicated that government was examining other technologies, including incineration and waste-to-energy solutions, as part of efforts to diversify waste-management methods.
Greater Accra Needs More Than Landfills
Although the construction of new landfill facilities could provide additional disposal capacity, officials and sector stakeholders have emphasised that landfill development alone cannot solve Ghana’s sanitation problems.
Greater Accra requires a coordinated system involving waste separation, collection, transfer stations, recycling, composting, treatment and environmentally sound final disposal.
The government’s June discussions on waste infrastructure included calls for greater investment in transfer stations, recycling and composting plants, engineered landfills and waste-to-resource technologies.
This broader approach is important because simply transporting increasing quantities of mixed waste from one location to another can shift the problem rather than permanently solve it.
If waste is separated at source, recyclable materials can be recovered, organic waste can potentially be composted, and only residual material would need to be sent to landfill.
Such a system could extend the lifespan of landfill facilities while creating opportunities for businesses and employment in recycling and resource recovery.
Eastern Region Becomes Important to Accra’s Waste Disposal
The Eastern Region has already become closely connected to Greater Accra’s waste-disposal operations.
On September 18, President John Dramani Mahama commissioned an operation to evacuate accumulated waste from Agbogbloshie in Accra to the Adepa Engineered Landfill Site near Nsawam in the Eastern Region.
The government estimated the waste at approximately one million tonnes, with the evacuation expected to take about 90 days.
The exercise is being implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs in collaboration with the Ghana Armed Forces and the DRIP programme, with funding support from the Ministry of Finance and the District Assemblies Common Fund.
The movement of large quantities of waste from Accra to the Eastern Region demonstrates both the importance of available engineered landfill capacity and the logistical challenges created when disposal facilities are located far from the communities generating the waste.
Long-distance transportation can increase fuel consumption, vehicle wear, operating costs and the amount of time collection vehicles spend travelling instead of collecting waste.
Government’s Wider National Waste Strategy
The proposed new landfill facilities are part of a wider national sanitation strategy.
According to the Information Services Department, the government’s waste-management reform programme will support the construction of three landfill sites, expand landfill capacity in the Greater Kumasi Area and develop engineered landfill facilities in all 16 regional capitals.
The programme also includes the expansion of waste-transfer stations and provision of waste bins to households.
The objective is to create a system in which waste can move more efficiently from households and businesses through collection and transfer facilities before reaching appropriate treatment or final disposal sites.
The Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, has separately announced that the 2027 Budget will make provision for landfill sites across major cities as part of efforts to address persistent sanitation problems.
Agbogbloshie Cleanup and Urban Renewal
The push for additional disposal capacity is also connected to the government’s plans for the redevelopment of heavily polluted and waste-affected areas.
At Agbogbloshie, the government has announced plans to transform the reclaimed area into an industrial park after the accumulated waste has been removed.
The government says the urban renewal project is intended to eliminate a longstanding public health and environmental hazard while creating space for new economic activity.
The success of such redevelopment, however, will depend partly on whether alternative disposal infrastructure is available to prevent waste from simply accumulating again in other parts of Accra.
The Public Health Dimension
Waste management is not simply an issue of keeping streets visually clean.
Poorly managed waste can obstruct drains, contribute to flooding, create breeding grounds for insects and rodents and increase exposure to unpleasant odours and potentially hazardous materials.
During heavy rainfall, plastic waste and other discarded materials can enter drainage systems and contribute to blockages.
The connection between sanitation and flooding has become particularly important following recent flooding incidents in Accra.
The Local Government Ministry has stressed that effective waste management has implications for public health, environmental protection, climate resilience and urban development.
For communities living close to waste-disposal facilities, environmental safeguards are equally important. Properly engineered landfills should include measures to manage issues such as leachate, odour, groundwater protection and landfill gas.
Communities Must Be Part of the Solution
Government investment in landfill infrastructure can provide the physical capacity needed to manage waste, but citizens and businesses also have an important role.
Indiscriminate dumping remains a major challenge in many communities.
Waste placed in drains, open spaces, waterways and unauthorised locations can undermine sanitation programmes even when collection services are available.
Public education therefore needs to accompany infrastructure development.
Households can contribute by storing waste properly, using designated collection systems and separating recyclable materials where such systems are available.
Businesses, markets and institutions also need effective waste-management arrangements to prevent commercial waste from entering public spaces and drainage systems.
Private Sector and Local Assemblies
The private sector is another important component of the waste-management system.
Waste collection companies, recycling businesses, landfill operators and other environmental-service providers require reliable infrastructure and predictable financing arrangements to operate effectively.
The Information Services Department reported in July that Zoomlion Ghana had called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to invest in new landfill sites and expand existing facilities, arguing that inadequate disposal infrastructure continues to undermine sanitation efforts.
The same discussion highlighted the importance of timely payments to waste-management service providers and collaboration between government, local authorities, private companies and communities.
For the system to work, assemblies must also have the resources and technical capacity to monitor waste collection, enforce sanitation regulations and maintain disposal infrastructure.
A Long-Term Test for Ghana’s Sanitation System
The proposed landfill projects represent an important infrastructure question for Ghana: how can the country manage increasing waste volumes without repeatedly moving from one sanitation crisis to another?
Building new facilities can provide additional capacity, but their effectiveness will depend on proper planning, engineering, financing, maintenance and enforcement.
Ghana will also need to reduce its dependence on landfilling by increasing recycling, composting and other waste-to-resource technologies.
The government has indicated that it is considering waste-to-energy options, including incineration, while acknowledging that some accumulated waste streams are difficult to process because they contain mixed materials such as sand and metals.
A sustainable approach will therefore require both immediate action to clear accumulated waste and long-term investment to reduce the amount of waste requiring landfill disposal.
Looking Ahead
The planned construction of new landfill facilities in Greater Accra and the Eastern Region comes at a critical moment for Ghana’s sanitation sector.
With Greater Accra already generating thousands of tonnes of waste every day and existing facilities under pressure, additional infrastructure could help strengthen the final-disposal stage of the waste-management chain.
But the bigger challenge will be ensuring that the new facilities are integrated into a modern system that prioritises waste reduction, recycling, composting, efficient collection and environmentally responsible disposal.
For residents, the expectation is straightforward: cleaner communities, fewer illegal dumping sites, better-managed waste and healthier environments.
For government and local authorities, the challenge is to turn the announced plans into properly designed and sustainably operated infrastructure.
And for citizens, businesses and communities, the responsibility remains to support proper waste disposal and avoid practices that undermine sanitation efforts.
As Ghana continues to urbanise, waste management will become an even more important part of national development. The success of the new landfill strategy will therefore be measured not only by how many facilities are constructed, but by whether the country can build a reliable, environmentally responsible and financially sustainable waste-management system for the years ahead.