Effectiveness of polluter-pay-principle in selected low and high income communities in the Greater Accra region

Abstract

Waste management as a social problem has neither spared the developed nor developing nations as statistics have proven that some developed nations are seriously grappling with this bane. The study therefore sought to assess the polluter pay principle and its effect on full cost recovery in low and high-income communities. The study employed a descriptive survey design and the population of the study consist of 60 respondents selected from waste management companies within Greater Accra Region. Also respondents who represent households and beneficiaries of waste collection were made to contribute to the study. The Primary data collection involved the use of closed-ended questionnaire. Further to this, simple bar chart analysis on excel and SPSS were employed to explore the relationship between the variables from the data collected to meet the research objectives. The study revealed that 40% of respondents have been in the waste management business for about 1 and above years now. Thirty eight percent of the respondents preferred both house to house and communal collection service as the best mode for collecting their waste. The study clearly shows that although the polluter-pay-principle has aided in significant recovery of cost especially in high-income communities yet more can be done to expand the recovery rate and to improve upon service delivery. The study recommends that, the Assembly must provide subsidy to make up for the difference between the proposed fees and the actual cost of providing the waste collection service to waste management companies so that the cost on households will dwindle. Waste generators must be allowed to now play a more active role in determining the level of use fees, service levels and monitoring of service providers.