Company develops new refuse dump site

Pg 29. May 19/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

A private waste management firm, Yufuru Waste, is in the process of converting a 10-acre old quarry site at Kwashie-Bu, a suburb of Accra, into a refuse dumping site.
The site will be opened up to other waste management contractors in the city who would be required to dump their waste for a fee.
The General Manager of Yufuru Waste, Mr Evan Atta, told the Daily Graphic on Wednesday that his company had entered into an agreement with the owners of the land to refill the old quarry with waste.
He said the company decided to allow other private waste collectors to also dump their waste at the site because his company alone would not be able to refill the land within the shortest possible time.
Aside the financial benefits of the project, the dump site will provide relief to other private waste collectors in the capital who are finding it difficult to dump their waste at the Oblogo Landfill Site, which is almost full.
Due to the nuisance created by the Oblogo dumping site, residents frustrate efforts of waste management contractors, preventing them from dumping at the site.
It was, however, observed at the site that people have built their homes a few metres away from the site and some are even situated within the valley where the refill exercise was taking place.
Mr Atta said the company was levelling part of the land where it had refilled to make way for new waste, adding that the company was going to fence the whole area for proper management of the waste.
He said the company had been working at the site for the past nine years but had not been able to refill a quarter of the quarry and therefore took the decision to bring in other waste management contractors to help in the refill exercise.
Some residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic said refilling the site was necessary, as, according to them, it was a ‘death trap’, mentioning that a middle-age man who stood close to the edges to attend to natures call fell into the valley and died two months ago.
They, however, expressed concern about the scent that emanate from the dumping ground, especially when it rained, and said something needed to be done about it.