Assessing the efficiency of solid waste collection services in urban Ghana

Abstract

Whether private solid waste management companies are efficient in solid waste collection (SWC) has long dominated public discourse in Ghana. In many instances, such discourses are based on an empirical vacuum. This article seeks to provide the empirical basis on which discussions on SWC efficiency can be grounded. It examined the efficiency of resource inputs into SWC using the Data Envelopment Analysis. With cost and allocative efficiencies as model output, the value of total assets, number of trucks, number of collection containers, number of clients, and number of personnel deployed were set as input data, while the quantity of waste hauled and the amount of revenue generated was the output factors. The companies constituted the decision-making units (DMUs). The results showed that the average efficiency score for all DMUs was less than the 1.0 threshold for efficiency score. The results imply that the DMUs consistently operated inefficiently. We argue that the extent of inefficiencies provides the basis for stakeholders to re-examine the existing waste management architecture.

Keywords

• Data Envelopment Analysis
• Efficiency
• Ghana
• Private sector
• Solid waste collection