The Role of Sub-Saharan Africa Countries’ Households Waste Charges on Sustainable Cities Development

Abstract

Most developing countries especially Sub-Sahara Africa often lacks financial resources to provide solid waste management in urban areas. Despite this, little has been done in the region to investigate the amount of income which can be collected from households to support provision of proper solid waste management. This paper estimated the amount which can be raised from households to support delivery of sustainable solid waste management. The study identified solid waste recovery alternatives which can help to turn the generated solid waste into useful resources. The findings revealed an estimate of about TZS 4, 555, 582, 529 (1 USD = 2140.65 TZS) can be collected per month from the households that can serve to purchase equipment including collection trucks and covering materials, as well as to pay for operational costs. The purchased solid waste equipment can collect and dispose up to 36% of the total solid waste generated by all households per day. Recycling of plastic, paper and metal scraps from households’ solid waste stream can transform about 25% of the total solid waste generated by households into useful products. Composting and bio fuels generation can convert 70.06% of the biodegradable waste such as food and garden wastes into useful products. Solid waste recovery alternatives have a great potential to turn waste into values thereby increasing the economic value of wastes, saving landfill space needed to dispose solid waste, encourage establishment of solid waste recovery industries or projects and create employment opportunities to people.