Vulnerabilities of waste scavengers to COVID-19 impacts: outcomes of an exploratory study in Ghana

The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected multiple dimensions of daily activities, including the waste scavengers’ activities. This paper focuses on the effect of COVID-19 on waste scavengers’ business, income, quality of life and family quality of life in three Metropolitan, Municipal Assemblies in the eastern part of Greater Accra, Ghana. A questionnaire was distributed to 46 waste scavengers using a non-probability sampling approach for a voluntary response, from March to April 2021. The sample is mainly composed of 84.8% male scavengers, most aged 18 to 47 years old and married (58.2%). The results indicate that the majority of respondents believe that COVID-19 is real and poses a health threat, but more than 21% reported not wearing Personal Protective Equipment. The study showed that 60% of waste scavengers were prohibited from entering households, thus affecting the family life income. The less sale of waste material due to COVID-19 contributed to a lower income by the waste scavengers, causing different difficulties and financial insecurity. This study showed that waste scavengers in Ghana, an essential activity, are in the front line regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and public policies intended to cover their social, economic and health vulnerability to the virus, need to be addressed.