Waste Management for Biogas Production in Ghana

Running head: WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................2
1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................2
1.2 Background of the study..................................................................................................2
1.3 Problem statement............................................................................................................4
1.4 Rationale of the study.......................................................................................................6
1.5. Research aim and objectives...........................................................................................8
1.5.1 Aim of the study........................................................................................................8
1.5.2 Research objectives...................................................................................................8
1.6. Research Questions.........................................................................................................9
1.7 Summary..........................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Literature review...................................................................................................10
2.1 Introduction:...................................................................................................................10
2.2 Literature review............................................................................................................10
2.3 Summary:.......................................................................................................................23
Chapter 3: Methodology..........................................................................................................26
Research approach...............................................................................................................27
Data collection.....................................................................................................................28
Sampling..........................................................................................................................28
Open ended questionnaires..............................................................................................29
Data analysis........................................................................................................................30

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Ethics....................................................................................................................................31
Results......................................................................................................................................33
Discussion................................................................................................................................39
Theme 1: Communication and relationship between stakeholders of waste management
and collection in Accra Ghana.............................................................................................39
Theme 2: Agreement between the stakeholders of waste management and their respective
obligations............................................................................................................................40
Theme 3: Actual purpose of the waste management activity and the ways to achieve the
same......................................................................................................................................41
Theme 4: Purpose of the waste management training program and seminar......................43
Theme 5: Collection of waste management at community levels and their advantage.......44
Conclusion................................................................................................................................47
Recommendation..................................................................................................................49
Education to the people in Ghana Accra..............................................................................49
Proper infrastructure and hygiene policies waste management organizations.....................50
Reference..................................................................................................................................52

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Biogas is defined as the mixture of methane gas (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) that
can be used as clean and renewable source of energy for cooking and generation of heat and
electricity. Biogas can further be upgraded to bio-methane that can be used as the major fuel
for transportation1. Moreover, biogas digest, a nutrient rich reside formed following the
digestion of the biogas can be utilized or organic fertilizer and/or soil conditioner. This
chapter will present a concise overview of the overall research while providing a brief outline
of the topic that will be researched. The chapter will initiate via providing the background of
importance of waste management, how waste management helps to reduce environmental
pollution followed by importance of biogas. Next, the chapters will provide a detailed
analysis of the problem behind the effective waste management and gaps in the research. The
gaps in the research will help to generate the aims and objectives of the current research
along with the rationale of the research.
1.2 Background of the study
Energy is an indispensable part of daily life and in the majority of times taken for
granted by the group of population, which enjoy the luxury of the modern society. This
luxury by a group of population has increased the demand of energy in the global scale. Such
that, millions of households and communities especially those residing in the developing
countries lack adequate source of basic energy like natural gas, liquid fuel and electricity. At
least 20% of the world’s population do not have access to electric supply and approximately
3 billion people depends on solid fuels like firewood, cattle dung, crop residues and coal to
1 Surendra, K. C., et al. "Biogas as a sustainable energy source for developing countries: Opportunities and
challenges." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31 (2014): 846-859.

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satisfy their cooking requirements2. In the perspective of Ghana, Africa it can be said that a
number of households who are dependent on traditional solid fuels are increasing with the
growth of population and this has further outpaced the number of new electrical connections3.
In the absence of new governmental policies to support adequate access to advanced energy
services, as additional of 220 (approx) million people residing in the developing countries
will depend on traditional means of fuel by the end of 2030. Biomass, which comprises of at
least 15% of the global energy demands accounts for about 90% of household energy
consumption in Ghana 4. Although, government is spending a significant amount of money
for the installation of the power structures, the majority of the population residing in Ghana,
Africa remains disconnected from the grid5. Moreover, per capita energy consumption is
frequently observed as the part of the development index and is extremely low in developing
or under developed countries like Africa in comparison to the developed countries. As
population in the African sub-continent continues to grow and urbanize, the management of
waste will become the major issue at the national and local level 6. In Africa, lack of proper
solid waste and sewage management system poses a major threat to human health and
environment 7. Despite large expenses over the infrastructure, the urban areas of the majority
of the developing countries are still struggling with the challenges to restrict irreparable
environmental damage. The lack of suitable management of organic waste is responsible for
various ecological problems like soil pollution, ground water pollution along with air
pollution with uncontrolled emission of methane (CH4) gas. Under this context, the
2 Surendra, K. C., et al. "Biogas as a sustainable energy source for developing countries: Opportunities and
challenges." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31 (2014): 846-859.
3 Johansson, Thomas B., et al., eds. Global energy assessment: toward a sustainable future. Cambridge
University Press, 2012.
4 Ramachandra, T. V., and B. V. Shruthi. "Spatial mapping of renewable energy potential." Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews 11.7 (2007): 1460-1480.
5 Surendra, K. C., et al. "Biogas as a sustainable energy source for developing countries: Opportunities and
challenges." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31 (2014): 846-859.
6 Hoornweg, Daniel, and Perinaz Bhada-Tata. "What a waste: a global review of solid waste management."
(2012).
7 Nahman, Anton, et al. "The costs of household food waste in South Africa." Waste Management 32.11 (2012):
2147-2153.

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application of the existing biomass like kitchen waste, cattle dung, green wastes, crop
residues and organic fraction of municipal and industrial waste for generating clean and
renewable energy through anaerobic digestion (AD) in African subcontinent would help to
improve local environment, human health and other socio-economic conditions8.
1.3 Problem statement
Though waste management is an important source of biogas production, there lies
several challenges in effective management of waste in Ghana. According to the reports
published in Today Online (2014), waste management has become one of the significant
challenges in developing countries including Ghana. Increase in the growth of population
along with rapid rate of urbanization has resulted in the increased generation of huge volume
of waste in cities of Ghana like Accra9. The report of the Online Today (2014) is of the
opinion that within a period of 15 years, Accra has developed very rapidly with the
population amount resulting to 5 million (annual growth of 4%). This myriad growth of
population has resulted in huge accumulation of the municipal waste followed by waste
management problems. At present, 2800 metric tons of municipal waste is generated per day
in Accra with only 2,200 tons collect and rest 600 tons are left behind to clog the drains,
water bodies and thus resulting in flood. Moreover, 97% of all public owned and publicly
managed sewage/fecal treatments plants are running out of service. On the other hand, only 4
out of 35 institutional treatment plants in the country are operational10. Thus, it can be said
that the municipal solid waste management in Accra Ghana is delivered in an unsustainable
manner. This exerts significant amount of pressure on the strained solid waste management
system and thereby reducing the rate of generation of potential biogas as the sustainable
8 Guerrero, Lilliana Abarca, Ger Maas, and William Hogland. "Solid waste management challenges for cities in
developing countries." Waste management 33.1 (2013): 220-232.
9 Online Today. “The challenges of waste management in Ghana: EPA’s perspective”. 8th July 2014. Retrieved
from: https://www.todaygh.com/challenges-waste-management-ghana-epas-perspective/
10 Online Today. “The challenges of waste management in Ghana: EPA’s perspective”. 8th July 2014. Retrieved
from: https://www.todaygh.com/challenges-waste-management-ghana-epas-perspective/

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source of energy11. Along with the weak institutional capacity, lack of adequate resources like
human resource and capital, the city government authorities experience difficulties in
ensuring that all the waste generate is comprehensibly collected and disposed for proper
waste management. Home collection of waste is only restricted to high and middle-income
areas. The poor are left behind to suffer with the problems. This discrimination of waste
management creates unsanitary and unsightly environment in numerous parts of the city
along with lack of effective generation of biogas for sustainable fuel12. Apart from the
governmental challenges there are challenges too. As highlighted by Online Today (2014),
the are uncontrolled human settlement in Accra Ghana which leads to slum formation leading
to the increase in the accumulation of solid waste. Moreover, there are lack of proper
maintenance of sanitation facilities, culture along with lack of comprehensive coverage of
central sewage system. Moreover, the general public resigning in Ghana has overall negative
attitude towards the environment followed by inadequate infrastructure, poor planning of
waste management program and unplanned human settlement. Online Today (2014) ahs also
highlighted that there is a lack of political will to enforce laws on sanitation as proper by the
Environmental Protection Act13. Thus, there are major problem behind the effective waste
management and thereby redirecting it towards the proper generation of biogas. Numerous
problems are highlighted behind the lack of proper waste management but the significance
and the rate of severity if each problems behind effective management of waste as not
highlighted in details in previous published literature. Thus effective elucidation of the
challenges lying behind the management of waste in Ghana will help in the proper generation
of the biogas as the sustainable source of energy.
11 Boadi, Kwasi Owusu, and Markku Kuitunen. "Municipal solid waste management in the Accra Metropolitan
Area, Ghana." Environmentalist 23.3 (2003): 211-218.
12 Boadi, Kwasi Owusu, and Markku Kuitunen. "Municipal solid waste management in the Accra Metropolitan
Area, Ghana." Environmentalist 23.3 (2003): 211-218.
13 Online Today. “The challenges of waste management in Ghana: EPA’s perspective”. 8th July 2014. Retrieved
from: https://www.todaygh.com/challenges-waste-management-ghana-epas-perspective/

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1.4 Rationale of the study
Biogas is a renewable source of energy having a potential for diverse application like
combined heat, heating, transportation of fuel and generation of power. In the developing
countries, the main application of biogas is in the usage of bio fuel. In Africa, cooking
comprises of 60% of the overall national energy of consumption. In the region of Ghana,
cooking is mainly undertaken via burning of solid fuels like wood, cow dung, coal, crop
residues and charcoal this is because there is no access to modern fuel for energy14. In these
households, the combustion of the solid fuel is done in a poor manner with poorly vented
combustion devises like the open fire and traditional stoves. Moreover, incomplete
combustion of fuels results in emission of the majority of the fuel energy as toxic pollutants
along with small particles of different size along with the emission of carbon monoxide,
nitrogen dioxide and other semi-volatile and volatile compounds (formaldehyde and benzo-
alpha-pyrene)15. Combustion of coal along with the emission of the small particles in air,
results in the emission of the sulfur dioxide and heavy metals n air like arsenic and fluorine16.
According to the reports, published by The World Health Organisation (2012), combustion of
the solid fuel is responsible for the high rate of air pollution, which again leads to the
development of pre-mature death along with other health related disability. In contrast to this,
use of methane (biogas), results in the generation of clean blue flame that is comparatively
free from the toxic pollutants and is much hotter than fire evolved from the burning of the
solid fuel thus helping in faster cooking. Lighting is the second most important use of the
biogas after cooking especially in the areas, which are still devoid of the proper electric
supply or electrical grid connections17. According to the reports, published by Centre for
14 Ghimire, Prakash C. "SNV supported domestic biogas programmes in Asia and Africa." Renewable energy 49
(2013): 90-94.
15 Surendra, K. C., et al. "Biogas as a sustainable energy source for developing countries: Opportunities and
challenges." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31 (2014): 846-859
16 Clark, Maggie L., et al. "Health and household air pollution from solid fuel use: the need for improved
exposure assessment." Environmental health perspectives 121.10 (2013): 1120.
17 Surendra, K. C., et al. "Biogas as a sustainable energy source for developing countries: Opportunities and
challenges." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31 (2014): 846-859