Solid Waste Management in Hotels in the Kumasi Metropolis

Abstract

The study set out to examine the techniques of solid waste management adopted by hotels in the Kumasi Metropolis as hotels are seen to be major contributors to waste generation within the tourism industry. Specifically, it involved an examination of the types of solid waste generated, the strategies used to manage solid waste in the hotels and identifying the associated challenges that the hotels face in managing solid waste. A cross-sectional design was adopted to survey 54 hotels managers in the metropolis. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the managers and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics, such as means, medians, frequencies, and percentages. Kruskal Wallis H and chi-square tests with their associated p-values were used to test for the statistical significance of the association between the study variables. The study found that the solid waste generated in hotels within Kumasi Metropolis included plastics, organic waste, paper and metallic wastes. However, plastics formed the highest percentage, in terms of the volumes produced. Moreover, the main solid+s waste management strategy adopted by the hotels was waste prevention while the major challenges facing the hotels in the management of solid waste were the high cost of managing solid waste and insufficient staffing needs for waste management. The study recommends that managers should establish a working environmental policy for their hotels. In addition, the managers are urged to engage in recycling and awareness creation to shareholders for the release of funds for managing solid waste in the hotels.