The Government of Ghana has announced a major overhaul of Ghana’s waste management system, including plans to provide households with separate waste bins, replace open-bucket waste tricycles and establish transfer stations across Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, who announced the measures on Saturday, October 3, 2026, said the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and all sister Assemblies had been given 30 days to identify and submit one-acre sites for the construction of waste transfer stations.

He announced this at Rawlings Park in Accra during the National Sanitation Day exercise, held to commemorate World Cleanup Day 2026 under the global theme, “From Clean Plates to Clean Cities,” and Ghana’s complementary national theme, “National Sanitation Day: Local Actions Yielding National Impact.”

Hon. Ayariga said the policy direction aligned with President John Dramani Mahama’s directive to develop an effective and efficient waste management system starting at the household level.

According to Hon. Ayariga, the government was designing an integrated waste management system that would address deficiencies in the entire waste chain, from household collection through transfer stations to final disposal and recycling.

He said Metropolitan Chief Executives in Greater Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and other regional capitals had particularly been directed to identify suitable sites, while assemblies in major urban areas were also expected to identify land for properly engineered landfill facilities.

He noted that people generally understood the need to dispose of waste properly but often resorted to inappropriate disposal when appropriate facilities were inaccessible or located too far from their homes and places of work.

Hon. Ayariga also disclosed measures by the government to make waste bins available to households as part of efforts to bring waste management services closer to residents, adding that under the proposed system, households would receive two bins: one for organic waste and another for other solid waste to encourage separation at source.

Hon. Ayariga also announced plans to replace the open-bucket tricycles, popularly known as Aboboyaa, currently used to transport refuse with self-loading and self-tipping waste vehicles, particularly for young people engaged in waste collection.

He said the government would have to commit substantial resources to the programme but maintained that investment in sanitation could generate wider benefits through reduced healthcare expenditure, cleaner communities and improved attractiveness of Ghana to visitors.

The Mayor of Accra, Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey, urged traders to treat cleanliness as an everyday responsibility rather than an activity reserved for National Sanitation Day.

A representative of the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, also called on residents and traders to take greater responsibility for maintaining cleanliness after organised clean-up exercises.