Ghana hosts first ISWA Africa Conference to tackle waste management challenges

GHANA – The Solid Waste Association of Ghana (SWAGH), the local chapter of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), has hosted the maiden ISWA Africa Conference, bringing together global and regional experts to explore sustainable solutions to the continent’s waste management crisis.

Opening the event, SWAGH President Ernest Kusi emphasized the importance of homegrown solutions.

“We need African solutions to tackle Africa’s waste management challenges,” he said, noting that the platform offered stakeholders a chance to discuss financing models, innovations, and partnerships.

A statement from Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group, underscored the need for sustainable financing.

“We need to come up with innovative ways of ensuring that sustainable funding is made available for waste treatment across Africa. Global practices, such as those in the UK, where waste management is funded through council and property taxes, can serve as a model for us,” it read.

Agyepong’s representative, Dr. Alexander Kumi Larbi Jnr, added that waste management should be viewed as an investment.

“It is an investment in public health, in economic growth, and in the betterment of our people,” he said.

ISWA Africa Regional Chapter President, Deji Fawole, echoed the call for collaboration, stressing the need for context-specific interventions.

“Let’s talk, let’s collaborate, let’s find solutions, and let’s discuss the problems and solutions,” he urged.

Themed “Charting Africa’s Path to a Wasteless Future: Integrated Strategies for Sustainable Waste Management,” the three-day event attracted experts from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Germany, and Belgium, highlighting global interest in addressing Africa’s sanitation challenges.

Discussions focused on sustainable financing, waste generation, and infrastructure development, with emphasis on innovative approaches that could be adapted to local contexts.

By hosting the first ISWA Africa Conference, Ghana reinforced its leadership role in the region’s waste management dialogue. As Kusi noted, “Where there is a will, there is a way. When government is committed to solving the problem, we can solve it.”

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