Conference Abstract | Volume 9, Abstract 0018 (ConfProc7) | Published: 29 Apr 2025
Vincent Arthur1,&, Belinda Opoku Nsiah2
1Central Regional Coordination Council, Cape Coast, Ghana, 2Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, University of Ghana School of Public Health, Accra, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Vincent Arthur, Central Regional Coordinating Council, Cape Coast, Ghana, Email: vinigasty@gmail.com, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8772-493X
Received: 29 Aug 2025, Accepted: 28 Oct 2025, Published: 29 Apr 2026
Domain: Environmental Health
Keywords: Solid waste management, solid waste collection, solid waste generation, Central Region
©Vincent Arthur et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Vincent Arthur et al. Trends and determinants of solid waste management in Central Region, Ghana: Evidence from panel data, 2020-2024. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfProc7):0018. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO7-0018
Central Region (CR) contributes 8.8% metric tons to Ghana’s annual solid waste (SW) generation. The region collects only 30.2% of 2,756 tons of SW weekly which presents adverse health impacts. Nevertheless, factors associated with SW collection in CR is poorly understood. This analysis sought to determine the proportion of SW collected, distribution (person, place, time) of SW collection from 2020-2024, and investigate the factors associated with SW collection in CR.
Using retrospective panel approach, secondary data was extracted from the 2020-2024 annual reports on solid waste management (SWM) obtained from the Regional Environmental Health and Sanitation Department. STATA version 17, Microsoft Excel and ArcGIS were used for analysis. Descriptive statistics was performed and results presented in tables, frequencies, percentages, and charts. Panel data regression using fixed effects model was performed with statistical significance determined at p<0.05.
Over the five-year period, 40.7% (1,040,540.46/2,558,324.04) of SW generated was collected, including: organic (100%, 22/22), plastic (100%, 22/22) and metal waste (100%, 22/22). Average per capita waste generation over the period was 0.07 tons. Agona West Municipal collected the largest proportion of SW, with 9.8% (102,457.68/1,040,540.46). SW collection decreased continuously from 50.7% (215,526.26/425,365.32) in 2020 to 34.9% (188,714.50/541,161.61) in 2024. A unit increase in skip containers led to 676.6 folds increase in tonnage of SW collected (β = 676.6; t = 5.3; p < 0.001; 95% C.I. = 424.8 – 928.5).
SW collection in CR is low and keeps decreasing. Organic, plastic and metal wastes are mostly collected. Increasing the number of skip containers enhances SW collection. The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs should ensure that MMDAs provide adequate number of skip containers in order to collect the huge tonnes of SW they generate.
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