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Waste Disposal in Developing Countries

Author: Mansoor Ali, Andrew Cotton and Ken Westlake, June 2005

Quality assurance: Sandy Cairncross

Abstract

Waste disposal is a neglected area in many low income countries, and a major environmental health hazard. Increasing quantities of waste and their changing composition are a major challenge for municipal governments. The cost of disposal of large quantities of waste is often beyond their financial capacity. There is also poor institutional capacity and political will to address the problem. The Millennium Development Goals set targets for Environmental Sustainability and Access to Environmental Sanitation, but safe disposal of solid waste still seems beyond the capacity of many countries. This fact sheet presents some basic issues and solutions on municipal waste disposal.

Introduction

The Millennium Declaration in September 2000 leads to the 8 MDGs that provide the framework for a new international commitment to address poverty eradication. The goal most relevant to this fact sheet is Goal 7, “Ensure environmental sustainability” and in particular Target 9, “Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources”. In addition, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002 set the targets for access to water and environmental sanitation. Proper solid waste disposal is an important component of environmental sanitation and sustainability. A sustainable environment and improved waste management offer opportunities for income generation, health improvements and reduced vulnerability.

Waste quantities are increasing at an alarming rate. By the year 2010 the 7 billion people in the world will be producing more than 2.5 billion tonnes of waste annually Low income countries will be contributing more than 50% of this, but their share will increase with economic growth. Countries with rapid economic growth and large cities such as China and India are already struggling with the proper disposal of large quantities of solid waste. Currently, the major expenditure is on collection and transportation but with more mechanisation and with the need for proper disposal the share of disposal cost will rise. Many low income countries lack the facilities for safe disposal. The current practice in most of the low income countries is uncontrolled dumping and it might take more than 20 years to provide sanitary disposal of municipal solid waste. With the growth of trade and industries the proportion of hazardous industrial waste and its impact will also increase.

This fact sheet discusses some of the issues of waste disposal and provides basic knowledge on improved disposal practices.

Stages in SWM

Municipal solid waste management comprises various stages from the generation of waste to its final disposal. Planning for proper management must consider all these stages. For a complete system of solid waste, all the stages need to be in place. The group of stakeholders around each of these stages could differ. For example, at the stage of generation and household storage the households and community groups are more important as compared to final disposal where municipal agencies and local authorities are the key players.

Final disposal is the last stage in the waste management stream. This is the stage when all the collected waste requires a safe disposal. Despite all the efforts to reduce, recycle and reuse the waste, there are always certain quantities of waste requiring final disposal. At the final disposal stage we need to deal with the larger and accumulated quantities of waste. For example, for a city of 5 million people with a collection rate of 70%, the quantity of waste requiring final disposal could be 3000 tonnes/day. This is equivalent to 500 truck loads of waste. The environmental impact of such a large quantity of waste could be very significant. Some common methods of final disposal of waste are landfilling, incineration and composting of the organic portion.

There are many reasons why safe disposal is rarely practised in low income countries; Box 1 identifies some of the key issues. Improvements to waste disposal practices depend largely on overcoming these constraints gradually.

Box 1: Key issues in solid waste disposal

Municipal Capacity

The scale of the task can be enormous. Most municipalities have no experience of controlled disposal. They may identify disposal sites but few actively manage them. Contracting out waste services has been suggested as a solution to low municipal capacity, but there are many uncertainties surrounding the issue: in what manner should the service be privatised? Should a large or small contractor be used? Does the municipality have the required capacity to adequately regulate the contract?

Political Commitment

Solid waste management is much more than a technical issue; it has implications for local taxation, employment, regulation, and any changes need political support to be effective. Unfortunately, it is rarely a priority for political leaders unless there is strong and active public interest. Thus there is little incentive to invest in disposal or to control unofficial practices.

Many people rely on waste picking for their income and a controlled disposal operation could be seriously disrupted if the practice were allowed to continue. Banning picking, however, requires strong management and political commitment.

There are many unofficial practices (such as fuel theft) which would be threatened by the introduction of a controlled operation, making staff unwilling to co-operate.

Finance and Cost Recovery

Development of a sanitary landfill site represents a major investment and it may be difficult to give it priority over other resource demands.

The need for funding can make municipalities dependent on donors or loan agencies that apply pressure to reach high, possibly unachievable, standards of disposal.

Finance may be available in the short term for establishment of a disposal site, but reliable revenue is needed for long-term recurrent costs. This is very hard to provide if residents are unwilling to pay taxes for waste disposal.

Technical Guidelines

Standards from high income countries may be inappropriate in low income countries due to differences in climate, resources, institutions etc. However, relatively little appropriate guidance is available for low income countries.

A lack of accurate data – or the means of getting it - compounds planning problems. For example, it may not be possible to undertake a geophysical survey of a disposal site or even make an accurate estimate of the total daily generation of domestic waste.

Due to these uncertainties, officials find themselves ill-equipped to plan a disposal operation which is both achievable and avoids unacceptable environmental hazards. They may try to adopt unsuitable, highly expensive imported designs or ignore the issue altogether, perhaps fearing prohibitive costs.

Institutional Roles and Responsibilities

A disposal site may be located outside the boundary of the town it serves and may serve more than one municipality. This necessitates the co-ordination of all authorities concerned and may involve departments that are accustomed to acting independently. Within authorities, the roles and responsibilities of different departments need to be clearly defined and accepted by all concerned. Some smaller towns may not have staff with specific responsibility for providing a solid waste management service.

Location

The accessibility of a disposal site – especially its distance from town – is an important factor in site selection, especially when staff and the public do not have a strong incentive to use it when compared with indiscriminate dumping.

What could be done?

Final disposal of solid waste must be an inseparable part for the planning of integrated waste management. This must go hand in hand with recycling strategies to minimise the quantities of waste requiring final disposal. The estimates of quantities of waste requiring final disposal needs to be based not on how much waste is produced but on the estimates of quantities left, requiring disposal. Municipalities could gradually develop safe disposal practices. Some of the common options for final disposal of solid waste are given in Box 2:

Box 2: Summary of waste treatment and disposal options

Disposal Option	Description	Application for Low Income Countries
*Uncontrolled dumping*	Waste is dumped at a designated site without any environmental control measures	This is not a disposal option but a common practice in low income countries. It has high environmental health risks.
*Sanitary Landfilling*	Controlled burial of waste. The site is engineered and managed to meet certain standards.	Comparatively low cost and simple technology solution when land is available. Presents some risks in certain circumstances.
*Composting*	Biological decomposition of organic matter in waste under controlled conditions.	Requires sufficient proportion of bio-degradable material in the waste. Not a complete disposal system; if there is no market for compost a further disposal option will still be needed. Large mechanised schemes have not been successful.
*Incineration*	The controlled burning of waste at high temperature to reduce its volume. Plant is designed to recover the energy released by combustion.	High capital costs, requires highly skilled operation and control. The waste must have a high calorific value, which is unlikely in low and middle income countries. Cost-effective only if landfill sites are not available.
*Gasification*	Biological decomposition of organic matter in waste under controlled conditions to obtain methane and other gases.	High cost and technologically complicated for developing countries.
*Refuse Derived Fuel*	Separation of combustible materials from solid waste for fuel purposes.	Depends on the presence of combustible material in the waste. Expensive and therefore of limited use in developing countries.
*Pyrolysis*	High temperature conversion of organic materials in the absence of oxygen to obtain combustible by-products.	Capital intensive with high running costs. Technically complex; the full operational and cost issues are not widely known.

As low income countries are making progress in their socio economic status, they need proper disposal of waste. With the expected increase in trade, employment and literacy, there is an urgent necessity to improve the final disposal of solid waste. In order to achieve the full benefits of the millennium development goals on poverty and environment, solid waste disposal must be considered as one of the key elements of infrastructure and services. A number of organisations collect and disseminate information on good practice in solid waste management. The following are key contacts:

Other Sources of Information:

Ali S. M. (2000), ‘Down to Earth: Waste Disposal Practices in Developing Countries’. Loughborough University.

Regional Annexes to this Factsheet

Solid Waste Disposal in Ghana

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