KABUNDI SECONDARY SCHOOL

GEOGRAPHY FIELD PROJECT

WASTE MANAGEMENT:
A STUDY OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN
CHINGOLA

CANDIDATE’S NAME: DAVID LUKWASA

EXAM NUMBER: 180503100006
YEAR: 2023
CENTRE NUMBER: 5003
OVERSEER: Mr. SIAMBULI A.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………I
Dedication ………………………………………………………………. ii

Chapter one ………………………………………. 1

1.0 Introduction ………………………………………………………….1
1.1 Background …………………………………………………….2
1.2 Aim …………………………………………………………………3
1.3 Objectives ……………………………………………………….4
1.4 Research questions …………………………………………5
1.5 Problem ………………………………………………………….6
1.6 Limitations …………………………………………………….7

Chapter two ………………………………………………………...8

2.0 Description of study area …………….……………………….9
2.1 Map of study area………. ……………………….……….10

Chapter three ………………………………………………….…11

3.0 Research methodology ………………………….…….11
3.1 Types of data ………………………………………….13
3.2 Data collection methods ……………………….14
3.3 Sampling procedure ……………………………….15
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 3.4 Data analysis ………………………………………….16
Chapter four …………………………………………………17
4.0 Data presentation and findings …….…………….18
Chapter five ……………………………………………………….19
5.0 conclusion …………………………………………………….20
5.1 evaluation ………………………………………………21
5.2 recommendations ………………………………….22
REFRENCES ……………………………………………………….23

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Waste management;
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Waste management is an issue of great importance
in our society today. This project will focus on the
waste management methods used by the citizens of
the community.

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 1.1 Background
Waste management has been a serious problem
which the community faces on a daily basis. This
issue has had the community having inputs in
the management of their waste.

5
 1.2 Aim
The project has been drafted to determine the
best ways of disposing waste.

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 1.3 Objectives
 Determine how households dispose of their
waste.
 Identify the risk associated with poor waste
management.
 To establish whether there are better ways of
waste disposal.

1.4 Research questions

 How do you dispose of your waste? Do you
think it has a negative impact on you and your
family’s health?
 Does the way you dispose of your waste affect
you negatively?
 Would you like to implement better ways of
disposing of your waste?

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 1.4 Problem
 Improper ways of disposing waste leads to
potential health problems which are
brought about by pests due to the poor
waste disposal e.g., Cockroaches, Rats,
Mice etc.

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 1.5 Limitations
 The study did not cater for all the necessary
areas because of the limited time given for
the project to be done.
 Some participants were unwilling to answer
questions because they thought they would
be fined for poor waste disposal.
1.6 Delimitations
 The research area was limited to Kabundi
Township in Chingola. A delimitation is that
which indicates the boundary of the study
in the context and geographical coverage.

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CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Description of study area
The area was known for the squirrels hence the
name ‘Kabundi’ (the Bemba name for squirrels)

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 2.1 Map of study area

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 CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Methodology
During the study the following methods were used
for collecting the necessary information;

Primary methods
I. Observation
The main research method used in this study.
The observation was mainly carried out to see
how people dispose of their waste.

II. Questions
Questions were asked directly to people and
most of the results were good. Unfortunately,
only the people in the open were the
respondents, the people in the homes were not
asked due to the availability of time.

Secondary methods

The secondary methods constituted of the

information acquired from internet,
consultations and books.
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3.2 Data collection methods
The methods for data collection methods were;
 Verbal questions
 Questionnaires
 Observations
 Books
 Internet.

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3.3 Sampling procedure
Both organized and non-organized sampling techniques
were used be in this study, in which respondents that
were interviewed were selected at random in order to
avoid one-sidedness and selective in order to confirm
collected information.

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3.4. Data analysis
After the data was collected, it was analyzed both
quantitatively and qualitatively. The data gathered is
summarized and presented using various graphic
methods which include pie charts, graphs etc.

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Chapter Four
4.0 Data Presentation and Findings

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17
Definition of terms:
Waste: this consists of any unwanted or unusable items,
remains, or byproducts of something or household
garbage.
Disposal: this is the process of getting rid of something.
Waste Management: this is basically the sum total of
activities involved in the generation, storage, collection,
transportation and final disposal of waste.
On-site disposal: this is the disposal of waste close to or
at the location it is produced.
Off-site disposal: this is the disposal of waste away from
the location it is produced.

As previously stated, waste disposal consists of the

following activities:

1. Generation:
Generation is the stage at which materials become
valueless to
The owner and as they have no use for them and
require them no longer, they wish to dispose of
them.
2. Storage
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 Storage is a system for keeping materials after they
have been discarded and prior to their collection and
final disposal. Where on-site disposal systems are
implemented, such as where people discard items
directly into family pits, storage may not be
necessary. Storage facilities include:
 Small containers: plastic bags, household
containers, plastic bins, etc.
 Large containers: communal bins, oil drums, etc.
 Communal depots: walled fenced-in areas.
3. Collection
Collection simply refers to how waste is collected for
transportation to the final disposal site.

4. Transportation
This is the stage when solid waste is transported to
the final disposal site. Types of transportation can be
divided into:
 Human powered: open-hand cart, wheelbarrow,
etc.
 Animal powered: donkey-drawn cart.
 Motorized: skip-truck, compactor, tipper-truck,
etc.
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The picture above shows a truck from cop-waste.

5. Disposal
The final stage of waste management is safe disposal
where any associated risks to human health and to
the environment are minimized. There are four main
methods for the disposal of solid waste:

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  Composting: this is the conversion of organic
matter into a mixture that is rich in plant
nutrients termed” compost”. This method is
highly advantageous as not only is it
environmentally friendly but the resulting
mixture can be used by gardeners or farmers as
fertilizer. Sadly however, most waste cannot be
composted.
 Recycling (resource recovery): this is the
processing of used or waste material to a form
that can be used again. This method is also
environmentally friendly; however, recycling
centers are expensive to establish.
 Land application (Burial or Land filling): this is
the process of using uninhabited areas of land,
at least 1 kilometer from settlements, for the
disposal of waste. Waste disposed at landfills is
buried at least 1 meter underground. The main
advantages are that it is a fairly sanitary disposal
and is relatively cheap and simple. The main
constraint is that a large area is required and
this becomes a waste of productive space.

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 NOTE: COP-Waste makes use of land filling at
Helen disposal site.
 Burning or Incineration: this is where waste is
burned as a means of disposal. The main
advantages of burning are that burning greatly
reduces the volume of combustible waste and
those pests and vermin cannot live off or breed
in the waste. The major drawbacks of burning
waste are that it poses a fire hazard and causes
air pollution.

Arguably the best a household can do is to leave

waste management to a company that specializes in
this rather than endeavoring to dispose of waste
themselves, however most households in Kabundi
South fully manage their waste, this is
Seen in the fact that of the about 850 houses in
Kabundi South, COP-Waste admits to only servicing
about 110 of them, this means that only 13% of the
residents have their waste managed by this
company.

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 100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
House holds serviced by copwaste House holds not serviced by cop-waste
Sou
rce: COP-Waste
As COP-Waste is the official company designated to
manage waste in this residential area then the remainder
of the residents that do not subscribe to this service
manage their waste themselves.

The following are the different categories of solid waste

output by a household. They can be broadly classified
into:

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  Organic Waste: this consists of waste from
preparation of food, food leftovers etc.
 Combustibles: consisting mainly of paper, dry wood
and plastics (bags, bottles and packaging for
example.)
 Non-combustibles: it consists of metallic waste such
as tins and cans as well as glass, enamel (ceramic
plates, cups, tiles etc.), roofing, broken concrete etc.
It also consists of any inorganic waste not already
covered in the above classification.

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 Organic Waste Combustibles

Non-combustibles
24% 32%

44%

The figure above illustrates the average household’s

waste output by volume

On-site disposal methods are implemented by residents

who manage their own waste in Kabundi South and the
most economic method agreed upon by most is the use of
incineration of waste in a waste pit.
It must be noted that households do not have as much
yard space as to carry out the digging and burial of waste,
and though organic waste does decompose over time non-
biodegradables such as plastic do not and as such their
volume will continue to increase till they occupy a
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considerable amount of space. To tackle this problem
residents, opt to occasionally burn any combustible waste
that accumulates in their pits. Though this does solve the
problem of having the combustible waste accumulating
space and causing land pollution, it creates the problem of
air pollution in that as these materials are burnt, they
release harmful gases into the atmosphere posing a danger
not only to the environment but to humans as well.
This issue is of such great magnitude that at one point the
Chingola Municipal Council once banned the use of
backyard pits entirely. This meant that any resident caught
using a backyard pit could be fined or even imprisoned.
This was done because:

 The keeping of waste in rubbish pits can attract flies

and mosquitoes which are vectors of diseases and
can have harmful effects on human health.
 The open air burning of waste in rubbish pits
releases harmful gases into the atmosphere which
cause global warming and also have an effect on
human health in that they can cause respiratory
problems if inhaled.

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  The burning of waste in rubbish pits causes certain
wastes to decompose producing a harmful liquid
called leachate which sinks into the soil and can
pollute underground water. The pollution of such
water can have an adverse effect on the human and
plant life which depend on it for survival.

Eventually however, the council finally allowed the use of

backyard pits on the grounds that residents should burn
their waste as scarcely as possible and should do so only
at night.
Summarizing the findings;
To briefly summarize the findings:
 Waste consists of any unwanted or unusable items, remains, or
byproducts of something or household garbage.
 Disposal is the process of getting rid of something.
 Waste management or waste disposal is basically the sum total of
activities involved in the generation, storage, collection,
transportation and final disposal of waste.
 On-site disposal is the disposal of waste close to or at the location
it is produced.
 Off-site disposal is the disposal of waste away from the location it
is produced.

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  Waste disposal consists of the following activities:
o valueless to Generation: this is the stage at
which materials become the owner and as they
have no use for them and require them no
longer, they wish to dispose of them.
o Storage: this is a system for keeping materials
after they have been discarded and prior to
their collection and final disposal. Storage
facilities include small containers, large
containers and communal depots.
o Collection: collection refers to how waste is
collected for transportation to the final disposal
site.
o Transportation: transportation is the stage when
solid waste is transported to the final disposal
site.
o Disposal: this is the process of getting rid of
something.

There are four main methods for the disposal of

solid waste:

 Composting: this is the conversion of organic

matter into a mixture that is rich in plant
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 nutrients termed” compost”. This method only
applies to biodegradable waste.
 Recycling (resource recovery): this is the
processing of used or waste material to a form
that can be used again.
 Land application (Burial or Land filling): this is
the process of using uninhabited areas of land
for the disposal of waste.
 Burning or Incineration: this is where waste is
burned as a means of disposal.

It was decided during the study that the best a

household can do regarding their waste is to let a
company that specializes in this manage it, however,
COP-Waste, the company tasked with managing waste in
Kabundi South, admits to only servicing about 13% of the
residents of this area. This meant that the overwhelming
majority of residents managed their own waste.

Upon examination and consultation, it was discovered

that the only method available for families to implement
was pit disposal.

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The method basically involved the digging of a family pit
within the yard space in which the waste was thrown.
While the biodegradable waste in the pit would simply
decompose over time, periodically, the combustible
contents of the pit were burnt to reduce their volume.

The above procedure is fairly affective as the volume of

the waste is greatly reduced and the accumulation of
non-combustible waste is slow as it only accounts for
14% of the initial volume of waste.

Getting back to the key question, does this method lead

to environmental degradation?

Indeed, it does. This is proved simply by the means

employed in reducing the volume of combustible waste.
Burning releases carbon dioxide which contributes to
global warming and when certain plastics such as PVC
(Polyvinyl chloride) are burnt they release CFC’s which
destroy the ozone layer.

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Chapter Five
5.0-1 Conclusion And Evaluation

Waste management is the proper disposal of

waste. It is important because it contributes to the
prevention of health related e.g., diarrhea, cholera
etc. people that do not know how to manage their
waste as it would be better for them and the
environment at large.
5.1 Recommendations

It has been discovered that solid waste disposal is

connected to environmental degradation, a number of
suggestions have been given that can help min mitigating
the problem of environmental degradation through good
control of methods of solid waste disposal.

The government should come up with strategies such

provision of more trucks to help in the collection of
garbage from community and town dumping areas for
permanent disposal in the allocated dumping sites. The
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community should be sensitized on the dangers of
environmental degradation. The local people should be
made responsible for any dubious waste of waste so as to
help in the fight against the problem.

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 References
Mr. Siambuli A.
Google.com websites
Wikipedia

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