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WASTe management is a huge challenge in Africa. Poor waste management practices, coupled with lack of infrastructure, extensive dumping of waste in water bodies and random dump sites exacerbated by the rise of urbanization have all added to this challenge.
According to the U.S. environmental Protection Agency(USePA), in 2000, solid waste generated in Accra, Ghana was estimated at 765,000 cube meters and that of liquid waste was 75,000 cubic meters. The total quantity of solid waste collected in the same year in Accra was 669,000 cubic meters, implying that around 96,000 cubic meters of the waste was unaccounted for. Statistics provided by the USePA in the same year show that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, which is in charge of waste disposal in Accra, was only able to collect about 55 percent of solid waste generated within the city. The above statistics clearly show that the challenge of managing waste in Ghana is problematic. While the government has set up systems to deal with this challenge, results have not been encouraging.
Ghana has now looked outside its shores to China for assistance in this regard. Zoomlion China Ltd. and Zoomlion Ghana Ltd. have entered into a partnership to build a recycling plant in Accra. The plant, which is already in operation, is disposing 300 metric tons of waste daily. They are using Chinese technology to process the waste and also plan to construct similar plants in each of the 10 regions of Ghana. The government of Ghana is working closely with Zoomlion Ghana to enhance the project.
According to Asia-Pacific Business Technology Report, an online magazine on technology in Asia-Pacific, China is the world’s largest municipal solid waste (MSW) producer. The online magazine also indicated that China produced 190 million tons of MSW annually at the early part of its economic boom and it is estimated that by 2030, the figure will increase to 480 million tons. One of the innovations of the Chinese Government in addressing their waste problems is the use of waste management technologies across the country. This involves recycling, waste recovery techniques and waste-to-energy amenities. With these technologies, China will be able to gain $40 billion annually as compared to the current loss of $5 billion every year according to the Asia-Pacific Business Technology Report. Current improvements in the technology have helped in the processing of more than 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily as compared to 800 tons processed earlier, the report stated.
Chairman of the Local Government Committee in Ghana’s Parliament, Dominic Azumah, was in China in 2011 to familiarize himself with the technology. Ghana has since committed $3.27 million to the recycling project in Ghana. The Zoomlion China project engineer of the waste management plants in Ghana Ding Zhiqiang was happy to share the technology with Ghana. “For decades now China has been developing this technology in cities like Beijing and Shanghai to manage waste efficiently and we are pleased to be sharing this with Ghana,” Ding said.
Zoomlion project coordinator George Kwesi Rockson disclosed that the recycling plant, occupying an area of 140 acres, would be providing employment to hundreds of university and polytechnic graduates who would be trained in modern waste management methods and technology. Aside from the jobs, better management of waste it will also go a long way to solve the health and environmental problems associated with waste in Ghana.
environmental scientists have classified waste according to the human health or environmental risk that it poses. These include general waste, which does not pose an immediate threat to people or the environment, like household and garden waste, builders’rubble and some business waste. It may, however, with decomposition and rain infiltration, produce leachate which is unacceptable.
The next classification is hazardous waste, containing or contaminated by substances such as poison, chemicals or corrosive agents, dangerous to people and the environment. Then health care risk waste generated by hospitals, clinics, laboratories and research institutions and lastly mining/metallurgical and power generation waste from minerals, waste rock or slimes produced by mining generation of electricity.
All these health implications from untreated waste are killing Africans. Waste management and good hygiene are fundamental to health, failure of which contributes to environmentally related diseases like cholera, diarrhea and malaria. According to the Ghana National Malaria Control Program, malaria causes about 3 million illnesses annually with over 3,000 deaths in 2010. These health problems have economic effects on Ghana and need attention.
“The filth in Ghana and especially [in] the capital is an eye sore. It’s increasingly becoming unbearable since the government and private bodies seemed unhelpful in their attempts to deal with the rot in our environment,” said Accra resident eric Aziebu. he said he saw the Zoomlion China recycling plant as a welcome initiative and hoped it would extend throughout the country.
(Reporting from Ghana)
According to the U.S. environmental Protection Agency(USePA), in 2000, solid waste generated in Accra, Ghana was estimated at 765,000 cube meters and that of liquid waste was 75,000 cubic meters. The total quantity of solid waste collected in the same year in Accra was 669,000 cubic meters, implying that around 96,000 cubic meters of the waste was unaccounted for. Statistics provided by the USePA in the same year show that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, which is in charge of waste disposal in Accra, was only able to collect about 55 percent of solid waste generated within the city. The above statistics clearly show that the challenge of managing waste in Ghana is problematic. While the government has set up systems to deal with this challenge, results have not been encouraging.
Ghana has now looked outside its shores to China for assistance in this regard. Zoomlion China Ltd. and Zoomlion Ghana Ltd. have entered into a partnership to build a recycling plant in Accra. The plant, which is already in operation, is disposing 300 metric tons of waste daily. They are using Chinese technology to process the waste and also plan to construct similar plants in each of the 10 regions of Ghana. The government of Ghana is working closely with Zoomlion Ghana to enhance the project.
According to Asia-Pacific Business Technology Report, an online magazine on technology in Asia-Pacific, China is the world’s largest municipal solid waste (MSW) producer. The online magazine also indicated that China produced 190 million tons of MSW annually at the early part of its economic boom and it is estimated that by 2030, the figure will increase to 480 million tons. One of the innovations of the Chinese Government in addressing their waste problems is the use of waste management technologies across the country. This involves recycling, waste recovery techniques and waste-to-energy amenities. With these technologies, China will be able to gain $40 billion annually as compared to the current loss of $5 billion every year according to the Asia-Pacific Business Technology Report. Current improvements in the technology have helped in the processing of more than 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily as compared to 800 tons processed earlier, the report stated.
Chairman of the Local Government Committee in Ghana’s Parliament, Dominic Azumah, was in China in 2011 to familiarize himself with the technology. Ghana has since committed $3.27 million to the recycling project in Ghana. The Zoomlion China project engineer of the waste management plants in Ghana Ding Zhiqiang was happy to share the technology with Ghana. “For decades now China has been developing this technology in cities like Beijing and Shanghai to manage waste efficiently and we are pleased to be sharing this with Ghana,” Ding said.
Zoomlion project coordinator George Kwesi Rockson disclosed that the recycling plant, occupying an area of 140 acres, would be providing employment to hundreds of university and polytechnic graduates who would be trained in modern waste management methods and technology. Aside from the jobs, better management of waste it will also go a long way to solve the health and environmental problems associated with waste in Ghana.
environmental scientists have classified waste according to the human health or environmental risk that it poses. These include general waste, which does not pose an immediate threat to people or the environment, like household and garden waste, builders’rubble and some business waste. It may, however, with decomposition and rain infiltration, produce leachate which is unacceptable.
The next classification is hazardous waste, containing or contaminated by substances such as poison, chemicals or corrosive agents, dangerous to people and the environment. Then health care risk waste generated by hospitals, clinics, laboratories and research institutions and lastly mining/metallurgical and power generation waste from minerals, waste rock or slimes produced by mining generation of electricity.
All these health implications from untreated waste are killing Africans. Waste management and good hygiene are fundamental to health, failure of which contributes to environmentally related diseases like cholera, diarrhea and malaria. According to the Ghana National Malaria Control Program, malaria causes about 3 million illnesses annually with over 3,000 deaths in 2010. These health problems have economic effects on Ghana and need attention.
“The filth in Ghana and especially [in] the capital is an eye sore. It’s increasingly becoming unbearable since the government and private bodies seemed unhelpful in their attempts to deal with the rot in our environment,” said Accra resident eric Aziebu. he said he saw the Zoomlion China recycling plant as a welcome initiative and hoped it would extend throughout the country.
(Reporting from Ghana)