How can Africa tackle the problem of solid waste?

Dec 12^th 2012

“ The Pressures experienced by ecosystems reflect unsustainable levels of demand, as well as damaging methods of resource extraction and waste disposal” Africa Ecological Footprint Report (2012, p.41)

• Submitted by Musole. M. Musumali

A friend recently travelled to Rwanda, and called me to express her amazement at how clean the streets in Kigali are.  ‘It’s so clean here’ is a comment frequently expressed by people from Africa who travel to parts of the developed world for the first time - clean streets in Africa are often seen as the exception rather than the norm.

More typical are scenes of heaps of solid waste of all shapes, sizes, origin and type littering pavements, caught in vegetation, or heaped on street corners, by the road side and on derelict land across our cities. This is the visible legacy of unsustainable patterns of production and consumption as developing countries, including the majority of those in Africa, become more and more industrialised. As population increases, income levels rise - enabling higher rates of consumption - and countries become more urbanized, the situation in all likelihood will get worse. Although average per capita waste generation in Africa is approximately 0.65 kg/capita/day according to recent publications , lower than the average 2.2 kg/capita/day for OECD countries, it is rapidly rising and not managed well.  

Most local governments and municipalities are overwhelmed with regards to managing solid waste.  They claim they lack the capacity, financial resources and access to the right technology to make any lasting difference.  The consequences of the status quo  and experienced daily  by urban dwellers include contamination of surface  and ground water sources,  air pollution  (dust and foul gases from decomposing waste and from burning of solid waste)  and general ill-health.  In some cities, outbreaks of cholera and dysentery are frequent occurrences (though this fact is also linked to water supply and sanitation issues); the main concern is that any resulting deaths are preventable.  

According to UN Habitat  the quality of waste management services is a good indicator of a city’s governance.  What makes the management of solid waste an apparently unmanageable problem across many parts of Africa?  Is it the lack of political will? Poor prioritising? Lack of an enabling policy environment?   Inadequate laws? Or simply the lack of planning?

Ultimately, what will it take to catalyse change? To start with, tried and tested solutions and technologies are available, they include strategies to: minimise waste generation; maximise environmentally-sound waste reuse and recycling; promote environmentally sound waste disposal and treatment; and extend waste service coverage.

If the obstacle is mobilising community/stakeholder support and buy-in, Rwanda has a system they call Umuganda - a community service day on the last Saturday of the month where the public cleans up; there is some hope then, that people can be persuaded to change their attitudes and possibly their lifestyles.   

On its part, the Bank has in place an Urban Development Strategy which provides strategic guidance on how to boost the viability and competitiveness of cities to enable them nurture sustainable economic and social development and to serve as engines of growth. Furthermore, the Bank’s Policy on the Environment identifies disposal of solid waste as imperative to ensure public health and to improve the urban environment.

More recently, at Rio+20 the African Development Bank in collaboration with other Multilateral Development Banks issued a joint statement expressing commitment on their part to support the sustainable development agenda broadly, recognising among the multitude of priorities, the need to promote sustainable cities and by extension the management of urban waste.  

Although momentum is building in this area, much more needs to be done, particularly in Africa.