Introduction
Improper waste disposal is a menace in most developing countries. The need for proper waste disposal must be acted upon urgently to safeguard the environment. The environment has been robbed of its pure, fresh and natural state. Environmental issues respects no territorial boundaries, hence it is a global problem. We therefore need to think globally while acting locally to address this issue which affects us now and the future generation.
Vision
The communities, in which we live, must be clean, safe and healthy for all. Also together join hands to improve social and economic conditions of our various communities.
Mission
To motivate the people in the communities where we live, to rise up and tackle waste management issues, so as to improve our economic conditions.
In order to control the declining status of our environment and avoid total collapse of the pure, fresh and natural atmosphere, there is the need to determine practical and feasible management systems to treat our refuse and solid wastes.
In our response to this, the ‘WASTE TO WEALTH INITIATIVE’ was founded by a group of young Africans, who are passionate about the environment and want to help rectify some of the problems. They do not just want to sit on the fence and talk about issues, but think about practical ways and be part of the solution.
The ‘WASTE TO WEALTH INITIATIVE’ is an organization committed to the development of practical local actions in achieving positive global change.
Objectives
1.
To orient the mindset of young people towards proper waste disposal methods, and equip them with basic knowledge and skills in recycling waste.
2.
To bring to fore awareness on the health hazards related to improper waste management.
3.
To educate the community on the need for proper waste disposal techniques.
4.
To turn wastes into environmentally friendly products and improve self-help initiatives
5.
To improve community capacity for a sustainable future.
Project Design
How to carry out the project?
Collection of waste and sorting of materials (preferably plastic and nylon waste)
Training sessions
Young People to be trained must be;
Committed to the ideals of a clean, safe and healthy environment.
Possess genuine passion to learn and enhance their leadership skills.
Construction of a simple biogas plant
Souvenirs (ie, T’shirts, hand bands, signboards, notebooks, etc)
Need to acquire waste collection tools (ie, bins, gloves, etc)
Waste collection bins should be placed at vantage points
Sources of finance for the initiative (personal funds, collaborations)
Characteristics of participating groups- education, male/ female ratio, age, employment
What kind of waste to collect for the project
Benefits of the project
-Generation of a positive behavioural change in participants and the community at large (ensure a socially responsible populace)
-Lead to cleaner safer environment
-Reduction in health problems
-Development of entrepreneurial skills for waste collectors and those who utilize these wastes
Measure of impact
-Increase in public awareness and education on the need and benefit of conserving the natural environment
-Change in attitude towards the use of waste disposal bins
-Reduction in the number of sick people at health facilities
-Readiness on the part of other schools, researchers, NGOs, to join and embrace the initiative
-Revenue generated
-Before and after evaluation of project
Affiliations/ Partners
-SIFE
-Related NGOs and Government Agencies
-Participating Institutions/ Schools
-Community Based Organizations
Resources and what they would be used for?
Cost of publication for Weekly Training Sessions/ Seminars/ Workshops
Hand bills and flyers
Souvenirs
Waste bins, rakes, brooms, shovel
Biogas plant construction
Local material needed
Expertise will be sourced locally and fabrication done locally
How much should we budget for?
Specific programmes/ Initiatives
-Waste Management Programme
-Waste Collection Programme
Choose specific location for project?
Campus/ Ayeduase Primary School/ or…
Recommendations
Educating the public on the dangers of improper waste disposal
Health- improve personal awareness of hygiene and health issues
Improve economic conditions, ie waste picker household’s income
Solid Waste Management Campaign
Encourage sorting of waste (wet and dry), volume reduction waste, organic fertilizers, recycled materials
Waste picker centers
Cleaning facilities, informal child care
Greater volume of waste and management
Under financing and weak management
Waste normally thrown on roadsides, vacant land, drainage canals
Waste Picker Education
What actually should be done?
Through songs
Role models to share a thought with participants
Discussions about potential improvements in their own community
Teaching resources- handouts and pictures
First aid treatment- gloves, iodine, bandages
Counseling sessions- issues such as reproductive health, sexual abuse, etc
Community education- food hygiene, cholera
Provision of protective clothing for waste collectors to create team spirit and pride
Gender consideration to waste generation and disposal- light weight materials and suitably sized and equipment maintenance (how?)
Top-up income from sale of recyclable waste
Issues on siting of communal bins and monitoring to prevent waste being strewn around
Issues about Scavenger Children- like children who normally find themselves on rubbish dumps picking up stuff for play or for recycling purposes
RUBBISH DISPOSAL BEGINS AT HOME
Can households fill the gap?
Lessons to be learned includes removal of waste to an intermediate storage place or disposal area
Issues, constraints and potential solutions in the primary collection of solid waste
Actors, involved in local initiatives include
Households who generate initiatives
Waste collectors
Intermediary community and civil society organizations
How can we clear our neighbourhoods
Householders are often unwilling to join collection schemes, why?
Without externally initiated educational programmes, people do not generally see the relation between waste collection and improved health benefits
People have unrealistic expectations that local government should sort out the mess
Waste collection schemes need municipality linkages and mechanisms for revenue collection
Further issues to discuss:
Women and management of household waste- because of traditional role
Waste pickers exposed to health hazards
Successful schemes depend on entrepreneurship of waste collectors- ensure that waste collectors are regularly renumerated, both in cash and in kind
Need to ensure that waste collectors do not find separation of waste for recycling time consuming
Contributors: Mansoor Ali (S.M.Ali@lboro.ac.uk) and Marielle Snell (snel@IRC.NL), Lessons from community based initiatives in solid waste: Water and Environment Health at London and Loughborough (WELL). Task 99, March 1999. From id21 Community Development Research
GETTING RID OF WASTE
Inexpensive safe disposal options for developing countries that avoid the dangers of incineration, landfill gases and leachate (soluble component of waste)
Investment in disposal or control of unofficial dumping is low on politicians’ agendas although we struggle to collect the majority of waste
Donors delay schemes by pushing for unachievable Western standards of disposal
The false impression that all land disposal is offensive, leading to the search for unaffordable high-tech alternatives as incinerations
Landfill sites present significant environmental and human health risks- risks of explosion, toxicants, preventing migration of landfill gases, control of emissions, water course pollution, eutrophication and death of animal life
Incineration- pollution and expensive
Composition, quantity, moisture content and density of waste collected. These must be known for effective waste management
Composting
Encourage sharing of local and regional experience
Incentives to improve waste disposal
Contributors: Andrew Cotton (P.Cotton@lboro.ac.uk), Ali Monsoor (S.M.Ali@lboro.ac.uk) and Ken Westlake. Down to earth: Solid waste disposal for low income countries; Water, Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University, 1999.
Book from Loughborough’s Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) guidance to solid waste management, Case study of Karachi
INNOVATIONS TO SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Assessment of better services, who should pay?
WEDC presents findings implemented in 3 cities in Pakistan and Bangladesh
Cost effective primary collection of solid wastes, strengths and weakness of current practices
We mostly identify problems other than solutions
We need to plan achievable and affordable targets
Residents are not normally consulted. Inform public and encourage their participation
Long term financing for operation and maintenance
Contributors: S.M. Ali and A.P. Cotton. Process of change in solid waste management: Field Note, WEDC, Loughborough University, 2000
NOT WASTING WASTE
Recycling is the only way urban inhabitants in low income countries earn a living (Intermediate Technology Development Group- ITDG)
Waste picking forms the basis for a web of recycling activity
Accommodation of waste presents logistical problems for municipalities
Solid wastes in most developing countries are too low in calorific value, have too much organic material and subject to too much seasonal variation in moisture content to permit conversion to energy by incineration.
Waste workers generally have a low level of awareness of health and safety
Biogas digesters for domestic lighting and cooking (China and India began this in 1993)
Bio fuel from coconut, cotton seed, groundnut, soy bean etc
Ensure that currently employed waste workers are fully integrated in new policies
Contributors: Dr Smail Khennas (smail.khennas@cilss.bf), Dr Liz Bates (lizb@itdg.org.uk) and Susan Taylor. Urban waste management for small scale energy production, April 2003
DANGERS OF WASTE COLLECTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Waste pickers should be recognized for the positive environmental work they do and protected from the risks they face from harzardous waste
Collect and sort waste from roadsides, bins and dump sites
Waste is from households, commercial, institutional and industrial sources
Profits of this sector usually benefit wholesale buyers of recyclable materials
3 main categories of dangers of waste collection:
Direct- faecal oral contamination, cuts and infections, burns, skin disorders, worm infections and diarrhea
Direct environmental- animal bites, exposure to flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes, rats, dump sites collapses, air water and soil contamination
Indirect environmental- social stigma, poor hygiene
Should children and adolescents be involved in this work at all?
Risk may be reduced by;
Safe removal and disposal of harzardous waste
Disinfecting solid waste
Distributing protective equipment, ie gloves, footwear, tools
Develop better transport systems to contain waste
Immunizing workers against tetanus
Contributor: Caroline Hunt (caroline-hunt@lshtm.ac.uk). A review of the health hazards associated with the occupation of waste picking for children. International Journal of Adolescent Medical Health 13(3): 177-189. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
THE PROJECT
Minimize and separate domestic waste
Collect household garbage from door to door
Transport to a nearby site for segregation into dry waste
Convert wet waste to compost and sell to farmers
Plastic and metals will be sent to recycling industries and then impose a monthly ‘garbage’ fee on the local residents. Children could generate some income
Expansion of project
Social impact- improvement in living conditions
Environmental- garbage collection and treatment
Education materials
Staff to be consulted
Community organizers
Vermicompost technician
Microbiologist
Field supervisors and project manager
Funding
Church organizations
Municipal bodies
Local residents
‘Environmental NGO Fund
Activities
Community organizing
Composting
Rehabilitation of waste pickers
Liaising with Municipal officials to do awareness raising
Look at providing technical and managerial know-how to community, residents and groups