Today, most of our water bodies have been polluted by mining and other industrial activities as well as by leachate from poor municipal solid and liquid waste management. Air pollution is on the ascendency and the WHO estimates that indoor and outdoor pollution accounts for nearly 28,000 deaths in Ghana annually.
In order to catalyse rural development, create jobs and transform our rural economies, the government as part of its medium to long term plan is embarking on an industrialization agenda titled: One District, One Factory. This programme will be expected to raise the average growth rate of the manufacturing sector to at least 6% per annum. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which constitute over 90% of our industrial sector, will be expected to multiply and diversify. The anticipated industrial expansion coupled with the increasing challenges associated with our municipal waste management systems call for strategic and innovative approaches for addressing pollution in order to avoid its human health impacts.