Waste pickers, collectors and recyclers from across Ghana have begun the process of forming a National Union of Informal Waste Workers, saying organization is key to gaining recognition, respect and better working conditions.

The 2-day workshop, which ends with the official launch on July 31, 2026, brought together representatives from all 16 regions to discuss the structure and purpose of the new union.

Speaking at the workshop, Wendy Elorm Amankwa, Project Coordinator for Zero Waste at Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), said the union was necessary because most informal waste workers “work in silos”.

“Because of that, they are unable to advocate for themselves, they are unable to advocate for good conditions, they are unable to have a unified voice,” she said.

“We realized that most informal waste workers are looked down, and we don't want that to happen anymore because they help with the waste management system in their country. They are the major contributor to a cleaner environment because they always go around taking our rubbish, cleaning our community.”

Ms. Wendy said government should recognize and incentivize informal waste workers more, noting that they are the majority compared to formal waste workers.

On the President’s recent call for national cleaning exercises, she said: “That’s actually very necessary... I think the president announcing that we should keep cleaning our community is a major step in keeping the community clean.”

She added that Ghanaians themselves contribute to the problem, stressing “mostly, we eat and we just dump refuse anyhow. Though the info that waste workers help clear this trash, but we are the main problem”.

M. Divine Dekonor, Chairperson of the Kpone Waste Pickers Association, added that informal waste workers are vital to keeping communities clean but remain unrecognized.

“The work we are doing is very important, but we've not getting the recognition, the respect that we need from the community,” he said.  

“The one way we can achieve that is to organize ourself into one union.”

He explained that the union will benefit everyone in the informal sector waste collectors, waste pickers, and recyclers.

M. Divine Deconor also linked the work of informal waste workers to the country’s perennial flooding problem.

“If government can support the work of the informal sector to do more collection, I think it will reduce the flood, because it's the waste that chop the gutters that end up causing the flood,” he said.

He called on government to provide equipment, capacity building training and incentives to help waste workers collect more.

“If we can have more capacity building training on how to manage the waste, we will do more, and that will prevent the occurrence of the flooding that we are facing currently,” he added.

He also charged Ghanaians to take on personal responsibility.

“We all have to own the community. So when you dump your waste anywhere, bear in mind that it will come back to hurt you in the future. We should learn how to separate our waste from home.”

The National Union of Informal Waste Workers will be officially launched tomorrow, July 31, 2026.