Managing the Organic Municipal Waste in Palestine: Linking Policy, Practice and Stakeholders’ Attitude Towards Composting

Abstract

Local authorities in Palestine are the service providers for solid waste management. Given that the organic fraction is the largest in municipal solid waste, and with ineffective management policies, the study of attitudes and behavioral aspects of personnel involved are very-important parameters in developing an effective waste management system and assisting policymakers in rectifying these policies. This study aims to assess the attitude of local authorities (LAs) in the southern West Bank of Palestine towards organic municipal solid waste composting and the factors that affect their attitude. The data was gathered via a structured questionnaire from all local authorities in the study area. The results showed that the local authorities’ attitude towards organic solid waste composting is low and can be considered dissatisfactory since only 36.5% of the local authorities are planning for composting compared to 63.5% who are not. The results also showed that municipal solid waste composting is significantly affected by nine factors, including financial capacity, proper machinery, enough refuse collection vehicles to collect solid waste fractions separately, availability of area of land to be used for composting, familiarity with composting systems, staff previous-experience in compost production, acceptance of the rapid composting system, staff training in compost production, and believe that solid waste composting is within the LAs’ responsibility. Implications municipal solid waste is growing continuously due to the population growth, increase methane emissions, and add more pressure on the landfills, which faces political and social restrictions for expansion in Palestine. In addition, there is severe restrictions on the import of chemical fertilizers imposed by Israel. Therefore, composting the organic fractions of solid waste can, to a large extent, extend the life of the landfills and compensate the shortage of fertilizers in the market, encourage organic farming and reduce methane emissions as well. Moreover, it can contribute to achieve the objective of the national strategy on solid waste management.