Application of the UN-Habitat Integrated Sustainable Waste Management Methodology to Evaluate the Solid Waste Management System in the City of Kano, Nigeria

Abstract

This report provides a review of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Kano, Nigeria. It employs a number of performance indicators, which include: waste collection, controlled disposal, materials recovery and financial sustainability. Other indicators are: user inclusivity, provider inclusivity and institutional coherence. A material flow diagram indicates a large amount of waste going to the informal recovery and reuse sector. Comparisons with world cities show that Kano performs below the low-income category in terms of solid waste management (SWM). The biodegradable portion of the waste constitutes 68%, 62.5% of the total waste being generated by the household sector at a rate of 0.56 kg capita -1 day-1. The SWM system is under budgeted and with the rapid increase in population, an effective and efficient SWM system would be required.