| Most cities in developing countries are growing faster than the capacity of the city authorities to manage. It is estimated that Africa alone will have 36 cities of 4 million or more people by the year 2025 (Fellmann et al., 1999). These rapid and mostly unguided urban growths have resulted in solid waste management problems. Consequently, indiscriminate dumping of waste on roads, drains, and open spaces have become common, leading to serious health and environmental hazards for millions of urban dwellers. The implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) in some of these countries, since the early 1980s, seems to have fueled the urbanization process. However, SAPs' encouragement of successive withdrawal of the State and the involvement of the private sector in social services provision does not appear to address the burgeoning urban solid waste problems in these countries. This study specifically explores SAPs influence on solid waste management---in terms of generation, collection, and disposal and the resultant differential effects of these on health and environment of the residents. Information for the research was obtained in various ways including literature review, analysis of a series of household surveys conducted through the use of questionnaires, personal field observation of environmental conditions in Accra, and series of key informant interviews of the Waste Management Department (WMD) as well as the private waste management companies. The study indicates that SAPs have contributed more to solid waste management difficulties than they have helped in solving them. |
