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Municipal solid waste management in Tunis City, Tunisia

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 Waste Management 33 (2013) 1682–1684
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
A Glance at the World
Edited by Maria Cristina Lavagnolo
This column comprises notes and info not subjected to peer-review focusing on waste management issues in different corners of the world. Its aim
is to open a window onto the solid waste management situation in any given country, major city or significant geographic area that may be of
interest to the scientific and technical community.
Dilemmas of municipal solid waste manage-
ment in São Paulo, Brazil
Located in the South East region of Brazil, São Paulo is the most
important economic and commercial centre in Latin America. The
city has approximately 11.2 m inhabitants living in about 3.5 m
households, and it occupies a geographical area of more than
1.5 million m2.
This paper aims to provide an overview of the difficulties that
an inadequate infrastructure imposes on a metropolis – of this di-
mension, in a developing country – as it struggles to meet the de-
mands of disorganised population growth. This research also hopes
to bring a fresh perspective and new data to the on-going global
debate on the issue.
Methodology
The methodology comprises of an analysis of qualitative and
quantitative data of São Paulo’s municipal waste management
(MWM) through secondary official data (statistics, statements, re-
ports) published by government bodies, waste authorities, private
organisations and research centres between 2000 and 2010. A
characterised profile of São Paulo’s MWM systems was constructed
using statistics relating to waste generation and treatment rates,
with an emphasis on recycling, waste composition, methods and
infrastructure of waste collection, treatment and disposal, and cur-
rent public policies. Most of the following reported data are pub-
lished by Prefeitura/SP, 2011.
Findings
Within São Paulo’s 27 boroughs, there are huge socio-economic
disparities between areas containing favelas, including areas on
the periphery of the city, and high-income areas where North-
ern-style standards of living and patterns of consumption are en-
joyed. These disparities include significant differences in
occupancy rates and population growth. The city contains about
382,296 households (12.6%) situated in 1565 favelas. Despite the
difficulties in collecting household waste from these areas and
from some other vulnerable settlements on the city’s outskirts,
collection takes place in virtually 100% of the city. Although the
0956-053X/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2013.05.002
government works on the basis of a general estimate of 1.5 kg of
waste generated per person per day, there is no official data re-
cording the effects of differentials in rates of waste generated by
individual boroughs.
São Paulo’s inhabitants put their waste into bin bags or plastic
supermarket bags, which are then left on the street to wait for col-
lection. These bags are frequently swept away by the heavy tropi-
cal rains, causing blocked drains, increasing flood risks, creating
dangerous health hazards (Jacobi and Besen, 2011) and contribut-
ing to loss of life and property.
In 2002, in order to ameliorate these conditions and improve
MWM, São Paulo City Hall agreed the current MWM concession
with two private contractors, introducing recycling programmes
and the Domestic Solid Waste Tax (TSRD). However, the revoke
of this tax in 2005 compromised service quality. The cumulative
increase from 2003 to 2010 was approximately 18.5%.
Almost all of more than 6.3 m tonnes of total municipal waste
collected annually in the São Paulo municipality is disposed of in
landfills: nearly 4.8 m tonnes (74.7%) is sent to sanitary landfills
and more than 1.5 m tonnes (24.7%) to inert municipal landfills.
However, City Hall holds no data on the amount of waste disposed
of either in private landfills or simply dumped out in the open.
Moreover, there are unofficial estimates that ‘informal waste’
may be double this amount.
Although household waste composition contains 28% recycl-
ables with the rest potentially compostable, the ‘mixing up’ of
growing amounts of packaging with organic material makes the
process unfeasible. São Paulo abandoned the practice of incinerat-
ing and composting household waste in 2004. Nowadays projects
are on-going to build new incinerators using imported German
technology.
Although statistics on São Paulo’s recycling rates show a gra-
dual increase since its introduction in 2003, the processes are still
in their infancy and represent about 1% of the total amount of mu-
nicipal solid waste (MSW) produced. Recent updated information
shows that, in 2011, recycling collection rates reached 155 tonnes
per day, or about 56,575 tonnes per year.
Nowadays there are 21 ‘central triage’ cooperatives working in
association with City Hall, employing more than 1000 ‘waste pick-
ers’. The mean income of a cooperative’s ‘waste picker’ is about
US$470 per month, gained through the sale of recycled materials
(Prefeitura/SP, 2011). The withdrawal of the TSRD and the lack of
 A Glance at the World / Waste Management 33 (2013) 1682–1684
government investment, together with the enhanced role of pri-
vate contractors, have all contributed to the expansion of the infor-
mal sector. Nowadays, there are approximately 20,000 ‘waste
pickers’ working in the streets and more than 100 organisations ac-
tive in the informal sector.
Since the carbon credit auctions of 2007, the City Hall has
earned approximately £28 m by capturing methane gas from
disused public landfill sites for the generation of energy; this
enterprise has contributed to a reduction of approximately
3.6 m tonnes in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Conclusions
One of the central issues that has emerged from this research is
the huge lack of information published by the city’s waste authori-
ties, especially concerning the informal economy. This lack of in-
formation severely inhibits the development of an authentic
analysis of the problems this society faces.
The issue of MSW in São Paulo is currently closely linked to the
social and employment conditions of its ‘waste pickers’, and the
existence and role of the informal sector. The government should
be seeking to support informal-sector initiatives and implement
proper employment practices that provide opportunities for the
social inclusion of waste pickers, thus reducing inequalities and
poverty. Action in this area could increase job opportunities and
aid the recovery of wasted resources. However, integrating infor-
mal with formal MWM is a challenging task. The profitability of
the MWM market looks set to grow in the future, due to the in-
creasing amount of waste generated, the scarcity of new landfill
sites and improvements in environmental legislation.
Despite developing countries presenting a technological deficit
in their waste management structures, great caution should be ta-
Municipal solid waste management in Tunis
City, Tunisia
Tunis city is spread over an area of 2726 km2 including Tunis,
Ariana, Ben Arous and Manouba governorate (administrative dis-
trict). The total population of the city was 2,314,400 citizens in
2004.
The amount of MSW generated in Tunis City has increased in
both quantity and diversity with adequate investment in collec-
tion, transport, recycling and disposal facilities and varied among
different governorates. The average daily generation rate of solid
waste ranges between 0.58 and 0.82 kg per person per day, with
a mean value of 0.65 kg per person per day. In the highest popula-
tion area of Tunis governorate (989,000 people), the generation
rate is 0.82 kg per capita per day and for the lowest population
zone of Manouba (346,900 people), an average of 0.52 kg per capita
per day was recorded. The inhabitants of the Tunis city generate
approximately 1800 ton of MSW daily.
MSW collection
Primary and secondary collection systems are available for col-
lecting MSW in Tunis City. Householders are responsible for pla-
cing their wastes in plastic bags near houses on the adjacent
roadside from where it is collected when the roads are swept, or
directly in containers.
Door-to-door collection is becoming common in Tunis City, ex-
cept for in a few areas. In those areas that use door-to-door collec-
tion, wheelbarrows, tricycles are used for waste collection from
individual houses at a specific time in the evening, when residents
1683
ken regarding the question of importing solutions from industria-
lised countries. In addition to being costly, and potentially
inappropriate for conditions in these countries, such imported so-
lutions can increase technological dependency and may hinder
progress on finding answers for the informal-sector problems. In
order, therefore, to improve socio-environmental conditions, the
São Paulo administration needs to address head-on the issue of
the use of marginalised people within the informal market. Other
major metropolises within developing countries have achieved
higher levels of recycling, which would otherwise be too costly
for the municipality to manage, by harnessing the participation
of the informal sector.
The National Policy of Solid Waste, enacted in 2010, may pro-
vide the necessary legal framework that could potentially advance
sustainable solutions for MWM in Brazil over the coming years.
Even so, if it continues along current trends, the city will experi-
ence a rush of unsustainable economic growth, leading to in-
creased waste generation, environmental degradation and
pollution. Such a course will constrain economic growth in the
longer term, and place a heavy burden on the city’s inhabitants,
especially those who are most vulnerable.
References
Jacobi, P., Besen, G., 2011. Gestão de resı́duos sólidos em São Paulo: desafios da
sustentabilidade. Estudos Avançados 25 (71), <http://www.scielo.br> (accessed
08.06.11).
Prefeitura/SP, 2011. Limpurb – Departamento de Limpeza Urbana. <www.
prefeitura.sp.gov.br>.
Alexandre Pereira
Department of Geography, King’s College London, UK
deposit the stored waste near house. The waste in the wheelbar-
rows or tricycles is either transferred to community bins or directly
transferred to vehicles going to the disposal site.
In Tunis City, landfills are generally within 15 km of the collec-
tion stations. Hence, transfer stations are in villages and counties
where most of the vehicles are emptied directly into the storage
area and then carried to landfill sites.
Secondary collection refers to the collection of solid waste from
refuse bins or other primary sites and its transportation to the
transfer station, or landfill.
The technique of MSW separation at production source in Tunis
City is still at an early experimental stage and has not yet been
widely implemented.
Solid waste is stored in different types of containers at the
source of generation in different areas of the city. Within the
household, plastic bags are usually used for the storage of the solid
waste generated.
Containers are mainly used in commercial sectors, such as
shops, offices, and hotels, on the road sides and in densely popu-
lated areas, accessible by the collection vehicles. The containers
generally are constructed of fiberglass, polyethylene or of galva-
nized 30-750 l capacity.
These containers are emptied into a rear loading compaction ve-
hicle that has a special lifting device for collecting the solid waste.
Then, the containers are placed back in their original positions.
The collection frequency is generally once per day, 7 days a
week. The collection crew usually consists of two workers plus a
driver.
The local authority (Municipality) is responsible for waste col-
lection, transportation and street sweeping, using private sector
1684 A Glance at the World / Waste Management 33 (2013) 1682–1684
contracts. Typically, waste collection is regular. Both mechanical
and manual methods are used to collect waste. The manual meth-
ods of collection are the most commonly used for waste collection
in rural areas. Deficiencies have been observed in the storage and
collection of MSW: the distribution of the collection containers is
often counterproductive, and the number of collection vehicles is
inadequate; some containers are without wheels, which delay
the process of unloading into the collection vehicles and some
others are corroded and rusted, which leads to leachate spillage
at the container site; some containers are overloaded and waste
deposed nearby; sweeping and collection implements are poorly
designed. There are no separate bins for collection of MSW.
MSW transportation
Collection and transportation of solid waste requires specialist
machinery and equipment. Different types of vehicles, varying
from compactors, ordinary trucks, tractor and trailers, dumper pla-
cers, and tippers are used for waste transportation (Ben Ammar,
2006).The waste is transported mostly by municipal vehicles,
although, in some densely populated areas private vehicles are also
hired to augment the fleet.
There are four private companies currently involved in collec-
tion and transportation. The amount of MSW collected and trans-
ported by the private sectors in 2007 was 15% of the total MSW
generated (Aydi et al., 2009). In fact, of the 13 collection contracts
established by the municipalities in Tunis, only 4 were executed
right up until the end of the contract period. The other contracts
were either cancelled by the municipality, or abandoned by the
private firm. Irregular payments for services, the incompetence of
the inspectors, the absence of a comprehensive monitoring system,
and so forth, were all considered weaknesses of the contract with
the private firm.
Resource recovery and recycling
Recycling in Tunis City is carried out by the informal sector ac-
tivity and by scavengers. Through the national programme of re-
fundable and reusable packaging, known as ECO-Lef, regulated by
decree no. 97.1102 dated 2nd June 1997, a formal recovery system
for plastic packaging was developed. Two private firms have been
contracted to execute the ECO-Lef program.
The success of waste recycling relies largely on education and
increase of public awareness to change their wasteful habits. In Tu-
nisia, high values for recovered materials (particularly for plastic),
low labour costs, and the success of market demand encourage the
recovery of marginal materials and investment in waste recovery
technology. However, the recycling percentages of plastic package
waste in Tunis City have to be at least 2%.
Like many other developing countries, scavenging plays a role
in reducing the quantity of waste reaching the disposal site.
Although this activity reduces waste volume, it makes waste col-
lection much more difficult due to the opening of garbage bags.
The valuable components of MSW, such as papers, plastics, textile,
metals and glass are often collected at the source or in waste bins
as well as at the disposal site by scavengers.
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Landfilling
Before the 1990s, MSW generated was buried in the open
dumping such as Raoued, Nahli and Henchir EL Yahoudia. It was
closed in 1994 because its capacity has been exceeded and was
not managed properly. The dumping of Raoued and Nahli were
closed in 1999. On May 17th 1999, the sanitary landfill of Jebel
Chakir, the first and the largest in Tunisia, was opened to receive
collected MSW of Tunis City.
Composting
Composting is not a widespread MSW treatment practice in Tu-
nis City. The first composting pilot unit was constructed in 1989 in
Henchir EL Yahoudia with a 40 ton/day capacity, but was not used
effectively due to difficulties in marketing. Many constraints ham-
per the large-scale adoption of composting in Tunis City. The lack
of equipment, the financial constraints, the lack of support from
the MSW local authorities and the shortage of experienced specia-
lists for making compost are the major constraints to the imple-
mentation of composting.
Final remarks
The rapid increase in population and the changes in lifestyle in
Tunis City have resulted in a dramatic increase in quantity of mu-
nicipal solid waste. The current state of solid waste management in
Tunis City has been improved slightly in the last decade.
Recommendations of the authors aim at the development of an
integrated and sustainable system for solid waste management in
Tunis City. First, MSW should be stored in four different containers
for four different materials: paper and cardboard, other recyclable
materials, organic materials, biomedical and industrial wastes. Sec-
ond, containers should be designed according to the quality and
quantity of waste generated by the inhabitants, and finally wastes
should be sorted at the source, to separate materials that can be re-
cycled and to reduce the amount of wastes requiring collection and
disposal.
Educational programs on solid waste collection, separation and
recycling will be developed to decrease the landfilled waste.
Reference
Aydi, A., Zairi, M., Kallel, A., Ben Dhia, H., 2009. Caractérisation de la décharge
contrôlée de Jebel Chakir-Tunis (Tunisie). Techniques Sciences et Méthodes
(TSM) 5, 101–112.
A. Aydi
M. Zairi
H. Ben Dhia
Laboratory of Water, Energy and Environment (L3E),
National School of Engineers, University of Sfax, Tunisia