The challenge
Twenty years of formal private contracts had left a quarter of Accra’s waste uncollected and little recycled.
The case
In Accra, Ghana, 20 years of contracting waste collection to formal private firms had not raised collection or recycling: coverage stood at 75%, waste capture at 53% and recycling at 5%. Researchers and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s waste managers then used inclusive decision-making and participatory research to bring informal collectors and recyclers into partnership with formal providers. Within two years, the number of informal service providers rose from 350 to 600, collection coverage reached 90%, waste capture 90% and recycling 18%, saving the city an estimated US$5.46 million a year in operating costs. But in January 2026 advocates said Ghana’s informal waste workers still lacked legal recognition and social protection, and some formal firms resisted concession deals.
Why the results were mixed
Working with the collectors who already serve unserved neighbourhoods expanded coverage quickly and cheaply. Full formal integration, with legal status, contracts and protections, has proved much slower, and the gains were reported by the researchers who ran the work rather than an independent evaluator.
Sources
- Oduro-Appiah, K., Afful, A., Kotey, V. N., & De Vries, N. (2019). Working with the informal service chain as a locally appropriate strategy for sustainable modernization of municipal solid waste management systems: Lessons from Accra, Ghana. Resources.
- Ghanaian Times (2026). Govt, CSOs move to integrate informal wasteworkers into national sanitation, climate action.
- Bloomberg Cities Idea Exchange. Waste management. Bloomberg Philanthropies.
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