Indiscriminate dumping of solid waste is a massive problem in most cities in the developing world. What inexpensive safe disposal options are available which avoid the dangers of incineration, landfill gases and leachate? What are the implications for taxation, employment, regulation and municipal-citizen relations?

A book from the University of Loughborough’s Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) provides guidance to municipal and NGO staff concerned to improve practices of solid waste management. All aspects of this complex, and hitherto neglected, subject – environmental, health, economic, social and managerial – are covered in this wide-ranging manual. As it sketches out options available to planners, the emphasis is on building on existing municipal capacity. A case study of Karachi illustrates a multi-faceted approach to planning service improvements.

As most developing country municipalities struggle even to collect the majority of waste it is hardly surprising that disposal receives even less attention. Investment in disposal or control of unofficial dumping is low on politicians’ agendas. Donors may delay schemes by pushing for unachievable Western standards of disposal. Disposal sites are often outside municipal boundaries and co-ordination mechanisms may be poor. The ubiquitous presence of insects, rodents, smoke and odour creates a false impression that all land disposal is offensive, thus leading officials to search for such unaffordable high-tech alternatives as incineration.

Landfill sites present significant environmental and human health risks. Ever present risks of explosion are greater when escaping gas is not confined or fires are allowed to smoulder. Trace components of landfill gas are recognised toxicants. Physical barriers are of limited use in preventing migration of landfill gases. Effective control of emissions depends on restricting the amount of organic waste input, minimizing water content and venting to reduce gas pressure. Leachate, the soluble components of waste and its degradation, percolates through landfills, enters watercourses, removes dissolved oxygen and causes eutrophication and the death of fish and animal life.

The report notes that:

• Incineration is generally unreliable, polluting and expensive for low-income countries where waste generally has a high content of inert material and, because of picking, a low proportion of paper and plastics.
• Technical considerations may override institutional, financial, social and environmental aspects of waste disposal.
• Urban planners rarely know enough the composition, quantity, moisture content and density of waste, nor the extent of existing waste picking practices.

Among the recommendations to urban planners are:

• Prioritise sanitary landfilling as long as suitable and affordable land and sufficient human and technical resources are available.
• Undertake composting if there is sufficient segregated biodegradable waste and a market for the by-product.
• Encourage greater sharing of local and regional experience with different technologies and management systems.
• Municipalities need to have an incentive (external pressure from a regulator, funder or civil society) to improve waste disposal practices.
• Without political commitment, long-term operation and monitoring of waste treatment/disposal systems will not be guaranteed.
• Schemes must not imperil existing opportunities for the utilisation of re-saleable waste nor the livelihoods of the poor.

Contributor(s): Mansoor Ali, Andrew Cotton and Ken Westlake

Source(s):
‘Down to earth: solid waste disposal for low-income countries’, Water, Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University by Mansoor Ali, Andrew Cotton and Ken Westlake 1999

Funded by: DFID (IUDD)

Date: 16 January 2002

Further Information:
Mansoor Ali and Andrew Cotton
Water, Engineering and Development Centre
Loughborough University
Leicestershire
LE11 3TU
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1509 222885
Fax: +44 (0)1509 211079
Email: S.M.Ali@lboro.ac.uk

Email: P.Cotton@lboro.ac.uk

Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), University of Loughborough, UK

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