Private-public partnership for driving solid waste management has proven fruitful in various geographies; conversely, the reverse is exhibited in the Accra Metropolitan Area. This proposal reviews a collaborative and sustainable approach to solid waste management; promoting a cleaner environment and enhancing public health.

Literatures were reviewed and integrated with primary data. Data included partnership agreements, policies, contracts, budgets, transportation, logistics, collection and disposal modes, employee conditions in solid waste management, and stakeholders. Multiple sampling techniques were employed to generate data from solid waste managements’ shareholders in the Accra Metropolitan Area.

The adoption of private-public partnership to render solid waste management remains successful in many metropolitan cities. This arrangement can be traced to the works of Adam Smith (1937) that provides the basic tenets of organizational theories. Nyachhyon (2006) argued that a well-instituted private-public partnership offers a sustainable solid waste management, and as a corollary, this proposal advances debate on the shortcomings of private-public partnership, leading to failing integrated solid waste management in the Accra Metropolitan Area.

A private-public partnership is a shared responsibility between the private and public entities for service provisions or management, grounded on prediction, interface and outcome. To optimize private-public arrangement for solid waste management, the public needs to master the prediction and interfacing elements as well as providing a stimulating environment for various stakeholders.

Findings indicated that the public is under-utilizing the prediction and interfacing elements of private-public arrangement in the solid waste management, thus offering a leeway for the private entities to undermine the arrangement. In addition, the research moots that a holistic approach is required to embrace these elements (prediction, interface and outcome) to yield the desired public service.