Abstract
This study investigated the management of household solid waste in Kabul city, a planned urban city in Kabul Province, Afghanistan. The study involved assessment of waste quantification and composition, handling, collection, and disposal as well as public concern and attitude towards waste management. A questionnaire survey was conducted from 270 households (10%) selected on the basis of stratified random sampling. Quantification/ composition was determined by manually sorting and weighing daily waste from sampled households using the standard method ASTM-D5231-92. The solid waste generated per capita was 0.557±0.138 kilograms per capita per day (kg/c/d) (SD=0.138) and (3.75±0.33 kilograms per household per day (kg/h/d) whereas the total waste generation from Kabul city was estimated at 9.5 tons/d with a major fraction of food waste (92.5%) followed by glass (1.8%), metal and yard waste (1.6% each), paper (1.4%) and plastic (1.1%) insight income families. Nearly one-third of the households had no storage and practiced open disposal in street sand empty plots. Waste collection by the municipal authority was unsystematic and random with daily collection from only 10% of the households mostly using donkey carts. Key issues of public concern were improper solid waste management, waste burning, pollution of water bodies, disposal in empty plots and streets, and open dumping. Public awareness about solid waste issues was high however only 15% showed a willingness to pay for waste management.
Highlights
Household solid waste (HSW) generation in urban areas is a growing problem in the South Asian countries like Afghanistan faced with increasing rate of urbanization and population growth of 2.4% (Mack et al, 2013)
Municipal solid waste management has evolved into an integrated system from prevention to final disposal and mainly driven by the increased concern for the environment, public health, resource conservation, climate change and community awareness (Marshall and Farahbakhsh, 2013)
Household solid waste generation and composition Average production of household SW per individual in Kabul city was 0.557±0.138 kg/d (3.75±0.33 kg/day per household) whereas the total waste generation from Kabul city was estimated at 9.5 tons/d
Summary
Household solid waste (HSW) generation in urban areas is a growing problem in the South Asian countries like Afghanistan faced with increasing rate of urbanization and population growth of 2.4% (Mack et al, 2013). Municipal solid waste management has evolved into an integrated system from prevention to final disposal and mainly driven by the increased concern for the environment, public health, resource conservation, climate change and community awareness (Marshall and Farahbakhsh, 2013). The research was focused on the SW quantification and composition, treatment and removal at the domestic levels by the community and assessment of awareness, underlying attitude and behavior of the locals towards HSW and its proper management in the presence of the relatively higher literacy rate and better economic status compared to population in other zones of the Kabul city.
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