A major public health crisis is looming in Tema and its surrounding communities as the Kpone Waste Landfill Site—the only active landfill serving the eastern corridor of the Greater Accra Region—is expected to shut down within the next 30 days after reaching full capacity.

The landfill, located in Kpone in the Kpone Katamanso District, currently receives waste from Tema, Ashaiman, Kpone, and several other districts. Its imminent closure has raised fears of uncontrolled dumping, accumulation of refuse, disease outbreaks, and environmental degradation within the metropolis and adjoining communities.

Commissioned in 1996 by the then Tema Municipal Assembly with an estimated lifespan of 33 years, the Kpone landfill was originally intended to serve only the Tema municipality. However, the absence of alternative disposal sites in the region forced several neighbouring districts to rely on the facility, drastically reducing its lifespan.

Mr Ibrahim (middle), Mrs Ebi Bright (second from right) and other personalities inspecting the site Photo Victor A. Buxton

Beyond capacity concerns, the site has experienced frequent fire outbreaks and the discharge of leachate into nearby residential areas, posing serious risks to air and water quality and exposing residents to potential health hazards.

The Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, sounded the alarm during a working visit to the landfill on Monday to assess the situation. He noted that almost all landfill sites in the Greater Accra Region had reached capacity, warning that the closure of Kpone without immediate alternatives would have dire consequences for sanitation and public health in Tema and its environs.

“We have only one month. We are sitting on a ticking time bomb. We are behind time,” the Minister cautioned.

Mr Ibrahim explained that the shutdown of the landfill could disrupt waste collection across Tema, leading to refuse piling up in communities, markets, and drainage systems, with heightened risks of cholera, malaria, and other sanitation-related diseases.

To avert the looming crisis, he announced that, in collaboration with the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo, all 29 metropolitan, municipal, and district chief executives in the region would be tasked with submitting position papers proposing urgent and sustainable solutions to the sanitation challenge.

According to the Minister, these proposals would be forwarded to the Presidency for immediate Cabinet consideration, emphasizing that decisive action was needed to prevent the imminent closure of the Kpone landfill from escalating into a full-blown public health emergency in Tema and surrounding communities.