Government is owing waste management companies an amount GHC4 billion for services rendered to Government agencies, MMDCEs and others since 2022.
Speaking on Ghanakoma morning show on Akoma 87.9 FM in Kumasi with Sir John on Friday, April 17,2026, Ashanti Regional President of Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA), Ing. Eugene Amo-Asamoah, said the debt was accrued from provision of landfill management services evacuation of refuse and others.
He said the debt needs to be settled by government to enable members carry out their activities effectively.
Ing. Amo-Asamoah, appealed to the government to pay outstanding debts owed them and review the National Sanitation and Pollution Levy to safeguard Ghana’s waste management services infrastructure.
ESPA is a coalition of private waste management companies in Ghana, working in partnership with government and local authorities to promote efficient, sustainable, and inclusive environmental services for all.
He said some of their companies have not been paid for about two to three years.
He said service providers who have borrowed from banks, creditors, suppliers, and other partners to sustain operations over the years find themselves in positions where such support has ceased, and in most cases, been threatened with court action.
He warned that if expedited action was not taken to salvage the situation, several landfills and treatment facilities across the country might face imminent shutdown.
According to him, such closure would not only disrupt waste collection services but also result in a public health crisis as well as threaten thousands of jobs.
“Ghana’s waste management sector is faced with an alarming state of operational and financial distress of which members of ESPA are not left out,” he stated.
“The situation has been further compounded by the lack of access to functional treatment and disposal sites, many of which are in deplorable condition due to poor maintenance,” he added.
On policy review on the Sanitation and Pollution Levy, he said there had been an absence of a dedicated budgetary allocation for waste management over the years, calling on the government to dedicate funds to support and sustain the existing waste management infrastructure.
By Benjamin Aidoo
