Solid Waste Management (SWM) is a multifaceted problem comprising political, socioeconomic, institutional, and environmental aspects. Due to exponential urban growth, it has become one of the most significant issues faced by urban spaces in developing countries. The gap in environmental knowledge among the youth and the old within developing countries contribute to ecological issues or waste management problems, resulting in unsustainable development, with important consequences in low-income countries. For that matter, a systematic review was conducted aiming to identify and analyse environmental knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and practice studies on SWM from 2010 to 2019 in developing countries. The evidence suggests that students at both secondary and tertiary levels have positive environmental attitudes, and high awareness of environmental issues, but there is a lack of practical education of teachers to guide students to put SWM into practice. Student’s low environmental knowledge is related to a deficiency in teachers’ practical experience in SWM for environmental sustainability. A relationship between teachers’ and students’ knowledge and attitudes towards SWM, as well as differences in awareness, attitude, and practices of SWM linked with education and age, were also found. This review also revealed that the lack of environmental education in most developing countries is caused by fragilities in practical environmental curricula of teachers to respond to modern-day environmental issues for sustainable development and cleaner production (CP). To bridge the knowledge gap between the youth and older people in SWM, environmental sustainability education should be integrated into schools at all levels within developing countries.

More and more, waste generated in most parts of the Western world has been recycled and transformed into new circularity products. However, managing waste within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), such as in Ghana, has become a challenge due to the continued practice of the old traditional linear waste economy, that is, the taking, making and disposing methods of management, representing a threat to global environmental sustainability. Despite the need to revise current linear waste management (WM) in order to turn to the circular economy (CE) model, which consists of the concept of renew, remake and share, to advance sustainable development, a number of factors restrict the CE realization in practice, specifically in developing countries. An integrative methodology was used in this article to identify some of the challenges that hinder the achievement of CE in SSA countries. The results revealed the absence of educational programs and public awareness of waste management activities. The findings also highlight the lack of political will, funding and national policies on WM as some of the most significant issues. The study contributes to further encouraging policymakers and policy implementers, entrepreneurs and relevant interested groups to commit resources to sustainable WM services aiming to advancing CE in SSA countries.

Addressing the plastic problem requires rigorous attention and practical education for sustainability. Due to the common effective waste management practices in some parts of the world, the plastics’ menace is generally well recognized and controlled worldwide. However, some developing countries do not have acceptable waste management practices, resulting in significant environmental, social, and health cross-cutting issues. Plastic is a significant threat to the environment in Ghana, specifically the urban environment and oceans. The new paradigm shift of virtually using non-biodegradable plastics in all daily products sold increases plastic waste in the environment, which creates problems, such as choked drainage system and breeding places for insects. The scale of these issues requires innovative and practical ideas to help solve this problem. The paper shows how plastic waste is innovatively and creatively converted to artifacts and pavement blocks in Ghana. These innovative ideas have contributed to reduce the volume of plastic waste and enhance environmental sustainability in Africa. The community’s benefits involving friendly environmental activities are identified and represent learning cases from Ghana to the world, particularly to Africa.

This study estimates the Medical Waste (MW) generated and the handling process in six Healthcare Facilities (HF) in Ghana, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and identifies the associated parameters. The data were collected by field work and MW collection, identification and weighing. The results indicate that the average rate of infectious MW ranged from 0.23 to 2.34 kg/bed/day (M = 0.95 kg/bed/day), and 0.24 to 1.68 kg/bed/day for non-infectious MW (M = 0.56 kg/bed/day). An amount of 11.41 tonnes of MW were estimated in the six HF in Greater Accra and Eastern Region in Ghana, comprising 49.1% infectious MW. The results suggest that the number of outpatients/day and the size of HF are the main predictors for the MW generation. The study shows that the segregation of MW is not correctly practised in the studied HF since 33% used the uncontrolled combustion process of open burning and dumping to handle 0.99 tonnes (8.7%) of MW.