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Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries: 1. Terminology
Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries: 1. Terminology
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it always also involves institutional, social, legal, failures of municipal systems to provide ade-
and financial aspects and involves coordinating quate services, and sometimes by pressure from
and managing a large workforce and collaborat- national governments and international agen-
ing with many involved stakeholders as well as cies. Arrangements with private companies have
the general public. The preparation and man- not all been successful, and as a result some
agement of a good solid waste management opposition to private sector involvement is now
system needs inputs from a range of disciplines, in evidence. An important factor in the success
and careful consideration of local conditions. of private sector participation is the ability of the
client or grantor - usually a municipal administra-
tion - to write and enforce an effective contract.
3. Challenges in Solid Waste Man- Many municipalities do not know what it has
agement been costing them to provide a service, so they
cannot judge if bids from the private sector are
reasonable. The contract document must be well
In Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) written to describe in quantitative terms what
of developing countries typical problem areas services are required and to specify penalties
can be identified. These can be described as: 1) and other sanctions that will be applied in case
inadequate service coverage and operational of shortcomings. Monitoring and enforcement
inefficiencies of services, 2) limited utilization of should be effective. It is also important that the
recycling activities, 3) inadequate landfill dis- rights of both parties are upheld by the courts.
posal, and 4) inadequate management of haz- Three key components of successful arrange-
ardous and healthcare waste. ments are competition, transparency and ac-
countability.
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factors that affect the potential for resource re- estates now increasingly encircle the existing
covery are the cost of the separated material, its dumps and the environmental degradation asso-
purity, its quantity and its location. The costs of ciated with these dumps directly affect the popu-
storage and transport are major factors that de- lation. Waste disposal sites are therefore also
cide the economic potential for resource recov- subject to growing opposition and it is becoming
ery. In many low-income countries, the fraction increasingly difficult to find new sites which find
of material that is won for resource recovery is public approval and which are located at a rea-
very high, because this work is done in a very sonable distance from the collection area. Siting
labour-intensive way, and for very low incomes. landfills at greater distances to the central collec-
In such situations the creation of employment is tion areas implies higher transfer costs as well
the main economic benefit of resource recovery. as additional investments in the infrastructure of
The situation in industrialised countries is very roads hence intensifying the financial problems
different, since resource recovery is undertaken of the responsible authorities. In addition to all
by the formal sector, driven by law and a general this, an increase in service coverage will even
public concern for the environment, and often at aggravate the disposal problem if the amount of
considerable expense. waste cannot be reduced by waste recovery.
Reuse of organic waste material, often contribut-
ing to more than 50% of the total waste amount, Other reasons for inadequate disposal are the
is still fairly limited but often has great recovery mostly inappropriate guidelines for siting, design
potential. It reduces costs of the disposal facili- and operation of new landfills as well as missing
ties, prolongs the sites life span, and also re- recommendations for possible upgrading options
duces the environmental impact of disposal sites of existing open dumps. Many of the municipal
as the organics are largely to blame for the pol- officials think that uncontrolled waste disposal is
luting leachate and methane problems. This is the best that is possible. Often the only guide-
one of the reasons why solid waste managers in lines for landfills available are those from high-
many parts of the world are now exploring ways income countries. These are based on techno-
to reduce the flow of biodegradable materials to logical standards and practices suited to the
landfills. The feasibility of municipal solid waste conditions and regulations of high-income coun-
composting as one step in the city-wide solid tries and do not take into account for the differ-
waste management system depends on the ent technical, economical, social and institutional
market for the compost product, as well as the aspects of developing countries.
technical and organisational set-up of the indi-
vidual plants. Last but not least, a clear legisla- The safe alternative, a sanitary landfill, is a site
tion, policy and municipal strategy versus the where solid wastes are disposed at a carefully
management of organic waste is an important selected location constructed and maintained by
prerequisite for the success of composting activi- means of engineering techniques that minimise
ties. pollution of air, water and soil, and other risks to
man and animals. Loans or grants to construct
Disposal sanitary landfills do not necessarily result in
sanitary landfill disposal. Equally important as
site location and construction is well trained per-
Most of the municipal solid waste (MSW) in de-
sonnel and the provision of sufficient financial
veloping countries is dumped on land in a more
and physical resources to allow a reasonable
or less uncontrolled manner. These dumps
standard of operation. If this is not given good
make very uneconomical use of the available
sites can quickly degenerate into open dumps.
space, allow free access to waste pickers, ani-
mals and flies and often produce unpleasant and
hazardous smoke from slow-burning fires.
Healthcare Wastes from Hospitals and
Financial and institutional constraints are the Hazardous Wastes
main reasons for inadequate disposal of waste
especially were local governments are weak or Healthcare wastes are generated as a result of
underfinanced and rapid population growth con- activities related to the practice of medicine and
tinues. Financing of safe disposal of solid waste sales of pharmaceuticals. Some of the health-
poses a difficult problem as most people are care wastes coming from any particular hospital
willing to pay for the removal of the refuse from or institution are similar in nature to domestic
their immediate environment but then “out of solid wastes, and may be called “general health-
sight – out of mind” are generally not concerned care wastes”. The remaining wastes pose seri-
with its ultimate disposal. The present disposal ous health hazards because of their physical,
situation is expected to deteriorate even more as chemical or biological nature, and so are known
with rapid urbanization settlements and housing as “hazardous healthcare wastes". In many
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cases the most dangerous items in healthcare countries wastes contain large amounts of inerts
wastes are needles from syringes and drips, such as sand, ash, dust and stones and high
because the needles shield the viruses from moisture levels because of the high usage of
chemical disinfectants and a harsh external envi- fresh fruit and vegetables. These factors make
ronment, and the sharp point allows easy access the waste very dense (high weight per unit vol-
for the viruses into the blood stream of anyone ume). The consequences of this high density are
who is pricked by the needle. For treatment of that vehicles and systems that operate well with
hazardous healthcare wastes many strategies low-density wastes in industrialised countries are
rely solely on the provision of incinerators or not suitable or reliable when the wastes are
other treatment technologies. Such a strategy heavy. The combination of the extra weight, the
has several weaknesses as often the hospitals abrasiveness of the sand and the corrosiveness
and healthcare facilities are not able to afford the caused by the water content, can cause very
operating costs of the plant. Thus plants are left rapid deterioration of equipment. If the waste
unused or not repaired when they break down. contains a high proportion of moisture, or is
Further, many of the risks occur before the mostly inert material, it is not suitable for incin-
waste gets to this final stage, and therefore they eration, and so this treatment option is ruled out.
are not reduced by the provision of treatment Recycling or salvaging operations often reduce
equipment. The key to improving healthcare the proportion of combustible paper and plastic
waste management is to provide better methods in waste before it reaches the treatment stage.
of storage and to train the staff to adopt safer
working practices and segregate as hazardous
healthcare wastes from general healthcare Access to waste for collection
wastes.
Many sources of waste might only be reached
Some waste materials need special care and
by roads or alleys which may be inaccessible to
treatment because their properties make them
certain methods of transport because of their
more hazardous or problematic than general
width, slope, congestion or surface. This is es-
wastes. The management of hazardous chemi-
pecially critical in unplanned settlements such as
cals is not only a matter of technology and legis-
slums or low-income areas and thus largely af-
lation, but also of enforcement, funding and fi-
fects the selection of equipment.
nancial instruments. Changing processes to use
less hazardous substitutes and minimising haz-
ardous waste quantities that are discarded can
be seen as the preferred options in dealing with Awareness and attitudes
any difficult waste. The Basel Convention seeks
to control the movement of hazardous wastes Public awareness and attitudes to waste can
across international boundaries. This instrument affect the whole solid waste management sys-
is necessary because the high cost of treating tem. All steps in solid waste management start-
hazardous wastes in industrialised countries ing from household waste storage, to waste seg-
makes it financially attractive to ship the wastes regation, recycling, collection frequency, the
to another country where no special require- amount of littering, the willingness to pay for
ments for their disposal will be applied. waste management services, the opposition to
the siting of waste treatment and disposal facili-
ties, all depend on public awareness and partici-
4. Factors Influencing Solid Waste pation. Thus this is also a crucial issue which
Management in Developing Coun- determines the success or failure of a solid
waste management system.
tries
There are many factors that vary from place to Institutions and legislation
place and that must be considered in the design
of a solid waste management system. Amongst
them are: Institutional issues include the current and in-
tended legislation and the extent to which it is
enforced. Standards and restrictions may limit
Waste amount and composition the technology options that can be considered.
The policy of government regarding the role of
Typically, domestic waste from industrialised the private sector (formal and informal) should
countries has a high content of packaging made also be taken into account. The strength and
of paper, plastic, glass and metal, and so the concerns of trade unions can also have an im-
waste has a low density. In many developing portant influence on what can be done.
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