Reliable national data on waste generation and composition that will inform effective planning on waste management in Ghana is absent. To help obtain this data on a regional basis, selected households in each region were recruited to obtain data on rate of waste generation, physical composition of waste, sorting and separation efficiency and per capita of waste. Results show that rate of waste generation in Ghana was 0.47 kg/person/day, which translates into about 12,710 tons of waste per day per the current population of 27,043,093. Nationally, biodegradable waste (organics and papers) was 0.318 kg/person/day and non-biodegradable or recyclables (metals, glass, textiles, leather and rubbers) was 0.096 kg/person/day. Inert and miscellaneous waste was 0.055 kg/person/day. The average household waste generation rate among the metropolitan cities, except Tamale, was high, 0.72 kg/person/day. Metropolises generated higher waste (average 0.63 kg/person/day) than the municipalities (0.40 kg/person/day) and the least in the districts (0.28 kg/person/day) which are less developed. The waste generation rate also varied across geographical locations, the coastal and forest zones generated higher waste than the northern savanna zone. Waste composition was 61% organics, 14% plastics, 6% inert, 5% miscellaneous, 5% paper, 3% metals, 3% glass, 1% leather and rubber, and 1% textiles. However, organics and plastics, the two major fractions of the household waste varied considerably across the geographical areas. In the coastal zone, the organic waste fraction was highest but decreased through the forest zone towards the northern savanna. However, through the same zones towards the north, plastic waste rather increased in percentage fraction. Households did separate their waste effectively averaging 80%. However, in terms of separating into the bin marked biodegradables, 84% effectiveness was obtained whiles 76% effectiveness for sorting into the bin labeled other waste was achieved.

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Landfilling, which sits at the bottom of the waste management hierarchy, is the most employed option for managing waste in many emerging economies. In view of the numerous environmental and public health challenges associated with operation of landfills, proper siting would require inputs that overcome the challenges. This study sought to use Geographic Information System application through multi-criteria decision technique to spatially locate suitable sites that fulfill standard landfill guidelines, for waste disposal. Spatial Analyst extension within ArcGIS software was employed for the suitability analysis. Three processes were involved: (1) digitizing to determine boundaries around built up areas, (2) buffering for proximity analysis in order to generate zones around features such as roads, streams, etc. and (3) overlay analysis to determine areas suitable for landfilling. The findings from this study revealed that about 2.62% of the total area was considered as most suitable for landfilling, 2.74% deemed suitable and a large portion (94.64%), considered unsuitable. The study identified 6 most suitable sites that can be used for landfill development in the study area burdened with urbanization. GIS has been used to determine suitable sites for landfill development. Findings from the study serve as guideline for environmentally friendly landfill siting with efficient land-use planning.

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The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment is undesirable since their biological activity may impair ecosystem health of reservoirs that receive inflows from other water sources. This work determined the concentrations of analgesics and antibiotics, and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance among microbes in water and sediment samples from Owabi and Barekese reservoirs—two main sources of pipe-borne water in the Kumasi metropolis in Ghana. The study also assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice of inhabitants near these reservoirs regarding the disposal of unused and expired medicines. Out of nine targeted pharmaceuticals, four were detected in at least one sample. Five analytes (caffeine, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, ibuprofen, and metronidazole) were below detection limit for all samples. The levels of pharmaceuticals were low, as expected, ranging from 0.06 to 36.51 μg/L in the water samples and 3.34–4.80 μg/kg in sediments. The highest detected concentration of any pharmaceutical in water was for diclofenac (107.87 μg/L), followed by metronidazole (22.23 μg/L), amoxicillin (1.86 μg/L), chloramphenicol (0.85 μg/L), and paracetamol (0.16 μg/L). Chloramphenicol recorded the highest concentration (10.22 μg/kg) in the sediments. Five bacteria isolates (Enterobacter, Clostridium, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Klebsiella) from the samples were resistant to all the antibiotics tested. Isolates of Corynebacterium and Listeria showed susceptibility to only doxycycline. Isolates of Bacillus were susceptible to only two antibiotics (erythromycin and doxycycline). All the 100 respondents interviewed admitted that they dispose of medications once they do not need them. Of those who disposed of unwanted medicines, 79% did so inappropriately. Disposal in household trash (67%) was the most common method used. Majority of respondents felt the need for a facility or program to collect unused medicines (77%), hence their willingness to pay to reduce pollution by pharmaceuticals in the environment. It is quite clear from the ecotoxicological risk assessment that a single pharmaceutical at very low level as those in this study and other works is likely to pose many ecological risks upon long-term exposure and therefore cannot be ignored.