Gov’t to construct new landfill sites in Greater Accra, Eastern Region

The government is planning to construct new landfill sites in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions as part of efforts to address the growing volume of waste being generated across the country.

The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, said the expansion of waste-management infrastructure had become necessary as existing facilities face increasing pressure.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, September 29, 2026, Mr Ayariga disclosed that the Kpone landfill had reached capacity and that preparations were underway to decommission the facility.

We have plans to construct new landfill sites across the Greater Accra area and Eastern Region to accommodate the waste that is being generated,” he said.

“The Kpone landfill site, as you can see, is full. So we’re in the process of planning its decommissioning,” he added.

According to the Minister, the shortage of available engineered landfill facilities in some parts of the country contributed to the decision to transport waste from Agbogbloshie to another landfill site.

The decision has generated concerns among residents in areas receiving waste from Accra, particularly over the environmental and health implications of increased waste disposal.

Mr Ayariga said the government recognised the need to expand landfill capacity while also exploring alternative approaches that could reduce the country's dependence on landfill disposal.

The Minister said the government was considering technologies such as incineration and waste-to-energy systems as part of a broader strategy to manage Ghana’s waste.

I agree with him that there are new ideas about how to manage waste such as incineration and the conversion of waste to energy through burning it and then using the heat to generate energy,” he said.

Mr Ayariga disclosed that discussions were already underway on how Ghana could adopt such technologies.

I have had those; even this morning I was in a meeting discussing how we should do that as a country,” he said.

He said the government’s long-term approach would focus on turning waste into a useful resource rather than relying exclusively on landfill disposal.

The planned construction of new landfill sites, alongside consideration of waste-to-energy technologies, forms part of the government’s broader efforts to address Ghana’s growing waste-management challenges and improve the capacity of the country’s waste-disposal infrastructure.