Why Your Waste Collector in Ghana is Not Reliable

The collection of solid waste is a public service that has important impacts on public health and the appearance of our cities. Unfortunately, many Ghanaians have had a terrible experience with their waste management company. A common experience is when you sign up for a weekly waste pickup but end up getting the service only once a month.

This challenge is seen on a large scale across several waste companies in every city across the country. This has created room for informal waste collectors who operate tricycles in communities for waste collection.

In this article we’ll give you 5 reasons why many waste companies in Ghana offer poor services and how you can circumvent the issue.

1. Logistical Challenges

Waste companies are required to show evidence of their fleet size before the municipality awards the contract. Somehow, many companies are able secure these contracts without proving that they have enough trucks to provide a reliable service. Some others have their entire fleet breakdown in the course of their operations without making replacements.

The impact of this is obvious. For example, if three trucks are required to work in your area but only one is being used, you’ll experience delays in the service in the event of a vehicle breakdown or when it is being used in another location.

It’s possible waste vehicles can breakdown for weeks with no replacement vehicles. Logistical challenges are a major reason why your waste collector doesn’t show up on trash day.

2. Problems with Landfill Sites

There are not enough landfill or waste transfer sites in Ghana, especially in the Greater Accra Region. Waste collectors within Accra have to drive at least 60KM in and out of the city in order to dispose their waste. Transfer sites within Accra are also very expensive to dump at and take an awful amount of time to access.

Dumping is worse during the raining season. Because these sites are not managed properly, vehicles usually get stuck in trash or develop faults during dumping. This makes it difficult for waste companies to serve their customers effortlessly. Sadly, landfill sites are bad for the environment as they are a significant contributor to pollution and greenhouse emission.

3. Excess Waste

On trash day, customers are expected to bring out the exact number of bins they signed up for. The waste company uses this information to determine the route to be used and the number of customers to be served on that route. When your waste collector picks excess waste generated by others, there is no space left for your trash and this means your trash won’t be collected on trash day. This will repeat if customers continue to generate excess waste.

If you often generate excess waste, practice waste reduction in your home or office or prompt your waste collector to provide you with additional bins to meet your demands.

4. Challenges with Revenue Collection

Revenue collection is one of the biggest problems waste collection companies pay. Customers usually pay at the end of the month, so this means the company spends their money on operations the entire month.

Waste company consistently face problems collecting payments from customers due to these reasons:

• Revenue collectors giving a false report on payments collected from customers
• Customers delaying payments

When your waste company doesn’t have enough money to run their operations, they’ll have no choice but to reduce the number of pickups made in your area or halt operations until they recover enough revenue to resume.

Always make sure to pay your waste bills on time.

5. Poor Customer Engagement

Delays in waste collection schedules are very normal, but communicating with customers goes a long way in managing expectations. Many waste companies do not have effective structures to let you know why there is delay in your pickup.

Revenue collectors are expected to communicate with you but cannot do so as it’s difficult for them to reach out to all customers one-by-one right on time. Many of these companies do not have social media channels or use bulk SMS services. Everything is done offline and this makes customer engagement difficult.

You have no choice than to conclude that your company is inefficient if they don’t keep you abreast with events.

At Dispose, we do things differently. We connect you to the most comprehensive network of vetted waste collectors in Accra, so you can get your waste collected on time.

With us you experience no pickup delays, you get SMS prompt updates and you have all your waste data available to you on our customer portal. It doesn’t matter if it’s commercial or domestic bin collection, we’ve got you covered in just a few clicks. You can choose between our weekly recurring service or our on-demand service and our team will be happy to help.

Click the button below to get your FREE quote, or give us a call on 024 685 4804