282 11 The Disposal of Municipal Solid Wastes
the United Nations to convene the conference in
Stockholm on the Human Environment, in June 1972.
An outcome of this meeting was the establishment of
the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).
The decision of the Ghana Government to establish an
Environmental Protection Council was a direct outcome
of recommendations of the Stockholm Conference.
Prior to that, the National Committee on the Human
Environment was formed by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in 1971 as a result of concern expressed by the
Economic Commission for Africa and the Organization
of African Unity regarding the need to conserve and
protect Africa’s natural resources.
On 23rd May 1973, the government of Ghana
announced its decision to establish an Environmental
Protection Commission; the government soon
renamed it the Environmental Protection Council. In
1994, it was transformed into an Agency by the
Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act
490). The EPA became a corporate body with powers
to sue and be sued. It was also given the responsibil-
ity of regulating the environment and ensuring the
implementation of government policies on the
environment.
The Ghana EPA’s objectives are to:
- Create awareness to mainstream environment into
the development process at the national, regional,
district, and community levels; - Ensure that the implementation of environmental
policy and planning are integrated and consistent
with the country’s desire for effective, long-term
maintenance of environmental quality; - Ensure environmentally sound and efficient use of
both renewable and nonrenewable resources in the
process of national development; - Guide development to prevent, reduce, and as far as
possible, eliminate pollution and actions that lower
the quality of life; - To apply the legal processes in a fair, equitable
manner to ensure responsible environmental behav-
ior in the country; - Continuously improve EPA’s performance to meet
changing environmental trends and community
aspirations; - Encourage and reward a commitment by all EPA
staff to a culture based on continuous improve-
ment and on working in partnership with all mem-
bers of the Ghanaian community (Anonymous
2010f).
11.2.5 Egypt’s Environmental Affairs Agency
The other developing country, Egypt, is an Arab country
in the Mediterranean region of North Africa with a
population of about 80 million. Egypt had participated
in the Conference on the Human Environment,
Stockholm, 1972 and had indeed proposed with the
overwhelming support of participating countries includ-
ing the USA, Sweden, Germany, and many others for a
Second United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment within 5 years in Egypt. (Anonymous
2010g). Although this was not implemented, it showed
that Egypt was fully in the spirit of the conference.
Environmental matters are handled in Egypt by the
Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) offi-
cially launched in 1982 by a Presidential Decree No.
631 of the year 1982. Its existence was formalized in
1994 by a decree issued by the Agency’s Executive
Head.
In June 1997, a Ministry of State for Environmental
Affairs (MSEA) was created. The MSEA has focused,
in close collaboration with the national and interna-
tional development partners, on defining environmental
policies, setting priorities and implementing initiatives
within a context of sustainable development. MSEA
and EEAA are the highest authority in Egypt responsi-
ble for promoting and protecting the environment, and
coordinating adequate responses to these issues.
The functions of the EEAA are to:
(a) Prepare the draft laws concerning the
Environ ment
(b) Implement the experimental projects
(c) Prepare the Environmental Training and Planning
Policy
(d) Draft the necessary norms and standards to ensure
that the environment is not polluted
(e) Formulate the basis and procedures for the assess-
ment of environmental impacts of projects
(f) Supervise the Environmental Protection and
Development Fund (Anonymous 2010g).11.3 Nature of Municipal Solid Wastes
Municipal Sold Wastes (MSW), also known as trash or
garbage, include everyday items such as product pack-
aging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food
scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint, and batteries.