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Closing the Loop

Community-Based Organic Solid Waste Recycling, Urban Gardening, and Land Use Planning in Ghana, West Africa

Urban and Regional Studies Institute at Minnesota State University

Accra, Ghana's capital, has solid waste collection and disposal problems that, like most cities in Africa, are concentrated in poor residential neighborhoods. Efforts to improve solid waste management have focused on improving solid waste collection. A practical, low-cost concept that has not been explored is recycling organic solid waste into compost for urban cultivation. This research explored the feasibility of recycling organic solid waste into urban cultivation as a sustainable waste-management strategy in low-income neighborhoods. The main hypothesis of this study is that a significant proportion of solid waste can be diverted from inefficient disposal by redirecting the organic fraction into urban cultivation. The study revealed that waste-based urban cultivation could significantly reduce quantities of organic solid waste for disposal, and minimize waste collection and disposal cost. Challenges to implementing the concept include overcoming the issue of land availability and motivating stakeholders to initiate, implement, and sustain such projects.

Key Words: sustainable urban development • land use planning • waste reuse urban civilization

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Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 27, No. 2, 132-145 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0739456X07306392


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Asomani-Boateng, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?