Formal Waste Management Systems Research Articles

Comparative analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of formal and informal waste collectors in urban waste management system

Effective and efficient waste collection and management is critical to achieving sustainable cities and communities, public health, and sustainable development. This notwithstanding, the rapid and ever-increasing rate of urban waste generation in developing countries has led to the emergence of a dual system of formal and informal waste collection schemes with unclear effectiveness and efficiency. This study compared the operational effectiveness and efficiency of formal and informal waste collectors in the urban waste management system in Ghana. A case study research design is employed with a focus on households and waste collectors in the Suame Municipality in the Ashanti of Ghana. Data were collected through questionnaire administration and interviews, waste quantification, and field measurements. The findings reveal that 61.5 % of households rely on informal waste collectors, 35 % on formal waste collectors and 3.5 % use indiscriminate dumping. The formal waste collectors were more effective serving 111 households and collecting 11.239 tonnes of waste per trip but utilises 62 % of their collection capacity while the informal sector collects 846.67 kg per trip and uses 106 % of their collection capacity. Formal waste collectors were also more efficient with the use of time. The study unveils an opportunity to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in municipal waste management in low- and middle-income countries with reforms and practices that build upon existing waste management practices and integrate informal waste collectors into formal waste management systems.

Designing effective waste management practices in developing economies: The case of Suriname

Local authorities are responsible for the exponential increase of waste, estimated to be about 9 billion tonnes annually. However, developing economies face enormous waste management challenges compared to developed economies, suggesting the lack of effective waste management approaches in most developing economies, including the small island developing states (SIDS). This study explores waste management practices and behavior in Suriname in support of the government's ongoing efforts in developing a framework to integrate sustainable development goals into its national policies and strategies. The current research adopts a two-stage data collection method involving observation and semi-structured interviews. 15 key informants were purposively recruited and interviewed using the semi-structured interview method to understand the current perceptions and behavior towards waste production and management in Suriname. The results show that Suriname lacks a structured and formal waste management system like many other developing countries. Open dumping and uncontrolled incineration are the dominant waste treatment methods in the country. The semi-structured interviews show that many factors, such as the lack of government commitment, ineffective policies and regulations, lack of investment and infrastructure, and citizens' social-economic status, contribute to Suriname's current unsustainable waste management practices. Although the country faces many challenges, people, especially in villages, have positive attitudes towards the environment, enhancing their engagement in managing waste if the right schemes and facilities are installed. The study argued that the government should improve their participation and commitment to waste management, especially through installing, implementing and enforcing effective waste management policies and strategies. The study further demonstrates the need for collaborations between the government and other institutions, especially NGOs and private firms, to improve waste management investment and efforts. Using the ontology perspective, key findings are synthesized to highlight the practical and theoretical implications of the study. Limitations and future research are discussed. • Developing economies face increasing challenges in managing waste production. • The lack of an effective policy and system is a major waste management issue. • Sustainable waste management practices require commitment from the Government. • Designing and installing appropriate systems would address waste problems. • Waste management in Suriname requires Collaboration between all institutions.

Waste Scavenging a Problem or an Opportunity for Integrated Waste Management in Namibia: A Case of Keetmanshoop Municipality, Namibia

Waste scavenging is an emerging challenge faced by many Municipalities and Local Authorities in Namibia. However, it has been neglected by authorities due to insufficient knowledge about its contribution to resource recovery and recycling. This study investigated how waste scavenging as a problem can be transformed into an opportunity for Integrated Waste Management in Namibia. The main objective of the study was to determine the socio-economic drivers as well as health implications of waste scavenging at Keetmanshoop municipal dumping site, Namibia. Using the purposive sampling method, a total of 45 waste pickers were interviewed through semi-structured questionnaires. The data collected included waste pickers demographic (age, gender, marital status, and level of education), socio-economic impacts (income and diseases) from waste scavenging. The study revealed that the main drivers of waste scavenging are poverty (71.1%) and unemployment (64.4%). Furthermore, waste scavenging contributes significantly to waste pickers’ livelihood through income generation from the sale of waste materials (93.3%). The majority of the waste pickers (80%), scavenge mainly for metals whereas the least target food. The study concluded that waste scavenging, although neglected, contributes significantly to the livelihoods of waste pickers and waste management in Keetmanshoop. The study recommends that waste scavenging should be regulated and integrated into the formal waste management system of the Municipality through avenues such as the formation of the waste picker’s cooperatives that will be registered with the municipality and recognised through formal structures.

Recent evolution of the informal recycling sector in Argentina within the 'popular economy': Measuring its impact through a case study in Tandil (Buenos Aires).

The integration of the informal recycling sector into formal waste management systems is imperative to the implementation of the circular economy in the Global South. In Argentina, after the 2001 crisis, some large cities such as Buenos Aires greatly improved their informal recycling sector integration. In medium-size cities from the rest of the province, this was not the case. However, the formation of a national coalition between different sectors of what is now called the 'popular economy' forced the enactment, in the context of a new crisis, of a Social Emergency Law, which includes a Complementary Social Salary equivalent to half the minimum wage, among its main features. In this paper, we recap these recent changes and we use the InteRa framework in a case study to measure how, along with academic and civil society support actions, they influenced the informal recycling sector integration in an intermediate city of Buenos Aires province. Our results show that the inclusion of the informal recycling sector improved rapidly after the availability of the Complementary Social Salary. Nevertheless, we registered a hard-to-overcome stagnation in some indicators of the InteRa framework, related to the weak engagement of the local municipal government with the informal recycling sector. Importantly, the advent of the Complementary Social Salary was not reflected in any indicator because there is no specific action related to this aspect in the InteRa framework. This may give an insight into future methodology improvement.

‘Wasteaware’ Indicators: an Assessment of the Current Solid Waste Management System in Lahore, Pakistan

The present status of solid waste management reviewed into this article based in Lahore, Pakistan. Following UN-Habitat city profiling with involved systematic quantitative, qualitative assessment, governance features of the present waste management includes in and shows the present system, waste collection, transportation is the main concentration and producing 74,000 tons year-1 of organic compost. Lahore waste management system (LWMC) is low in their target market consulted in decision making (inclusivity) and bad performance (governance features). Formal waste management system having backward of the informal system, which is absolutely inconsistent with current waste management systems. Watchful arranging and organization proposed here to reduce the trouble by integrating informal waste management system into formal waste management system for shared advantages. The integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM) indicators used for different levels of income class and LWMC performance in Lahore. Recommendation builds for the public awareness for recycling and to make the integrating informal sector sustainable system and fill the historical data gap.

Exploring the Potential Health Risks Faced by Waste Pickers on Landfills in South Africa: A Socio-Ecological Perspective.

Landfill and street waste pickers in South Africa are responsible for collecting substantial volumes of recyclable material, saving municipalities millions and contributing to a generally healthier and cleaner environment. Yet waste pickers continue to operate on the fringes of the economy and are exposed to many risks, particularly health risks which have a direct impact on the sustainability of their livelihoods. This article, using a mixed-methods approach, explores the health risks to which waste pickers working on nine different landfills in the country are exposed. The socio-ecological framework was used to analyse and present the results. A key finding was that waste picking, by its very nature, lends itself to innumerable health risks, but that these can be lessened through concerted and collaborative efforts on the part of landfill operators, local authorities and other stakeholders. Integrating the ‘self-employed’ waste pickers into the formal waste management system should be comprehensive in order to limit health risks. Waste pickers will never have a risk-free environment, but facilitative policies and supportive institutions can collaboratively help to mitigate these risks and create a more sustainable and dignified working environment towards sustaining their livelihoods.

Socio-Economic Status, Hygiene Practices and Microbial Exposure of the Waste Collectors of Dhaka City in Bangladesh

Waste is a discarded part generated from primary use of a material. In most cases, waste is very much unwanted and unusable but may be usable and beneficial for our economy and environment. Waste collectors are playing vital roles for the management of wastes though they are deprived of their basic needs. They are involved directly or indirectly to our economy and environmental development. However, whether waste collection activity has any effect on the socioeconomic status, hygiene practices, and microbial exposure of waste collectors remain unknown. Here we investigated socio-economic status, hygiene practices and microbial exposure of the waste collectors of Dhaka city in Bangladesh.
 
 This study included two types of waste collectors in Dhaka city. One is the household waste collectors (HWCs) who belong to the formal waste management system of the city corporation and the other is the street waste collectors (SWCs) who belong to the informal waste management system that is executed mainly by the vulnerable groups of people locally called "Tokai". The total sample size was 150 (75 HWCs and 75 SWCs) who were randomly selected from 15 different sites (clusters) of the city. The research findings showed that 20% waste collectors were children and 76.67% were illiterate. The majority (72.7%) earned less than 150 BDT/day but the lion’s share was spent on food. The coverage of sanitary toilet facility was 42.0% whereas 70.7% SWCs had no toilet facility. The majority (82.7%) used to drink untreated water and 41.3% had disease episode in previous 30 days of data collection time. Only 28.0% waste collectors had bathing facility at home. Noticeably, no waste collector was wearing mask, gloves and apron while handling the waste. Analysis found that the status of HWCs was better than that of SWCs. Association among the variables showed that significant relationship existed between income level and percentage of expenditure on foods, types of drinking water and disease episode in previous 30 days, types of toilet used and hand washing practices. Microbiological analysis showed that the waste collectors were more exposed to the microbial hazards than the normal people. 
 
 HWCs and SWCs included in this study belong to vulnerable groups of Bangladesh. They are playing vital roles for cleaning and developing environmental conditions and living standards of Dhaka city though their contributions were mostly unrecognized. The present results suggested that socio-economic status, hygiene practices and microbial exposure of waste collectors of Dhaka city in Bangladesh are in poor and critical conditions. To address the present needs, proper measures should be taken by the coordinated activities (short and long-term) of both govt. and non-govt. organizations.

Exploring “Internet+Recycling”: Mass balance and life cycle assessment of a waste management system associated with a mobile application

Individual users cannot readily access the collection channels is a persistent problem in municipal solid waste (MSW) management, resulting in low MSW collection rates. A new waste management model, “Internet+Recycling”, has come into being; this model enables individuals to arrange collection appointment through various online platforms, then the collectors pick up the waste on-site. It is believed that “Internet+Recycling” can be a solution to mitigate the collection barrier in MSW management, as it provides individuals a convenient access to formal waste management systems. However, whether this emerging MSW collection model would bring environmental benefits is yet unknown. We here quantitatively examine the mass balance and environmental performance of MSW recycling associated with the use of such a “Internet+Recycling” mobile application - Aibolv. All transactions occurred on the mobile application within a period of six monthare included, and all related activities are modeled using the methodology that combines material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). According to the extant MSW management legislation in China, we classify the collected MSW into three categories, subsidized waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) like television and refrigerator – T1, unsubsidized WEEE like mobile phone – T2, and other recyclables like paper and fabric – T3. The MFA results show that plastics and common metals are the dominate secondary material streams, and glass, precious metals and battery metals are mainly recovered from WEEE. The LCA results indicate that the disposal of the T2 waste has the highest environmental savings, due to the recovery of precious metals. Increased remanufacturing rates impart negative impacts, while increments in the quantity of spent mobile phones could significantly improve overall environmental performance. Based on the acquired results, recommendations are provided for facilitating the future development of “Internet+Recycling”, and limitations of this work are identified as well.

Integration of informal recycling sector in Brazil and the case of Sorocaba City.

Catadores are people who collect and sell materials that can be recycled. This activity has been done informally in many countries for years. Recently, a recognition process has begun for the informal recycling sector, with public and private initiatives. In Brazil, catadores started out associating with each other in co-operatives in the 1980s. In 2010, the Solid Waste National Policy was approved, promoting the inclusion of theses co-operatives in the formal waste management system. However, only in 25 out of 5670 Brazilian municipalities have hired co-operatives as Private Service Providers. The integration of the informal sector has contributed with social, economic and environmental benefits; income generation, reduction of poverty and resource preservation are highlights. Although there was a legal progress, there are great challenges for various actors involved. This paper aims to diagnose the informal recycling sector, emphasizing the integration process that has happened in Brazil. For this, a substantial literature review and a case study were conducted, applying the tool 'InteRa' to the case of Sorocaba. The case showed that it is possible to improve the integration of catadores in the formal waste management system. The co-operatives achieve recycling rates of 2%, higher than the official national rate of 1%. However, we estimate that autonomous pickers increase total recycling in Sorocaba to 9%, still short of the 25% target via source segregation. Therefore, continuing the integration process will benefit both the pickers, and also the municipality through savings on landfill costs.

Between hype and veracity; privatization of municipal solid waste management and its impacts on the informal waste sector

The informal waste recycling sector has been an indispensable but ironically invisible part of the waste management systems in developing countries as India, often completely disregarded and overlooked by decision makers and policy frameworks. The turn towards liberalization of economy since 1991 in India opened the doors for privatization of urban services and the waste sector found favor with private companies facilitated by the local governments. In joining the privatization bandwagon, the local governments aim to create an image of a progressive city demonstrated most visibly through apt management of municipal solid waste. Resultantly, the long important stakeholder, the informal sector has been sidelined and left to face the adverse impacts of privatization. There is hardly any recognition of its contributions or any attempt to integrate it within the formal waste management systems. The study investigates the impacts of privatization on the waste pickers in waste recycling operations. Highlighting the other dimension of waste collection and management in urban India the study focuses on the waste pickers and small time informal scrap dealers and this is done by taking the case study of Amritsar city, which is an important historic centre and a metropolitan city in the state of Punjab, India. The paper develops an analytical framework, drawing from literature review to analyze the impacts. In conclusion, it supports the case for involving informal waste sector towards achieving sustainable waste management in the city.

Empirical Investigation of Formal and Informal Sectors in Waste Recycling of the Municipal Waste Management System of Developing Countries: The Case Study of Lagos State

Municipalities in metropolitan cities of developing countries often find it difficult to cope with the onerous task of providing waste services to their citizens due to financial constraints and poor infrastructure. In most of these cities, waste collection services are grossly inadequate as less than half the population is served with regular and efficient waste services. However, the shortcomings of the formal waste management system are compensated by the activities of the informal sector engaged in waste collection and make significant contributions to the MWMS through material recovery and waste recycling. In view of this, the study focuses on the roles of the formal and informal sector in municipal waste management with regards to their impacts on the recycling rate of Lagos State. In this study, we measured and compared the recycling rates between the formal and informal sectors to determine their impacts on the recycling rates of Lagos State. The study relies on primary field data, site visits and observations backed by secondary sources to investigate the range of informal sector activities in comparison to the formal sector. The findings indicate that, while both sub-sectors play significant roles in the MWMS, the informal recycling activities contribute more to the recycling rate of Lagos state than the formal sector.

Les pratiques populaires à la rescousse de la salubrité urbaine : la précollecte, un service alternatif aux insuffisances du système formel de gestion des déchets à Yaoundé

L’etude menee a Yaounde a montre que l’offre des services d’hygiene et de salubrite dans la ville reste encore mediocre. Nous avons releve sur le terrain qu’environ 45 % de la population a acces au service public de gestion des dechets. Face a l’echec de l’Etat d’etendre un service public de gestion des dechets dans toute la ville, les populations yaoundeennes ont mis en place un service parallele informel d’hygiene et de salubrite pour contribuer a l’amelioration de leur cadre vie. Il s’agit de la precollecte. Cette offre alternative de services permet l’ajustement a l’evolution non maitrisee de la ville et repond surtout aux besoins des populations pauvres. Malgre son apport important au fonctionnement du systeme urbain d’hygiene et de salubrite, la precollecte n’est pas toujours institutionnalisee. Elle reste negligee et stigmatisee par les pouvoirs publics. Il a ete constate lors des investigations de terrain que la precollecte constitue aujourd’hui a Yaounde une avancee sociale et environnementale considerable et un service tres apprecie par les populations (84 %). Dans les zones couvertes par le service de precollecte, on note une reduction des pollutions olfactives (86 %) et visuelles (90 %), une diminution des depots sauvages (97 %), des incinerations a ciel ouvert (83 %) et l’amelioration de la proprete dans le quartier (96 %). Les acteurs de la precollecte ont deja integre la valorisation des dechets dans leur fonctionnement a travers le tri et le compostage. Il serait important pour l’Etat de comprendre comment la precollecte se structure afin de mettre en avant les benefices apportes a la population. De meme, l’institutionnalisation de cette activite dont l’importance n’est plus a demontrer serait necessaire pour l’universaliser dans la ville de Yaounde.

Estimating informal household food waste in developed countries: the case of Australia.

Food waste is a global problem. In Australia alone, it is estimated that households throw away AU$5.2 billion worth of food (AU$616 per household) each year. Developed countries have formal waste management systems that provide measures of food waste. However, much remains unknown about informal food waste disposal routes and volumes outside of the formal system. This article provides indicative metrics of informal food waste by identifying, in detail, five of the dominant informal food waste disposal routes used by Australian households: home composting, feeding scraps to pets, sewer disposal, giving to charity, and dumping or incineration. Informal waste generation rates are then calculated from three primary data sources, in addition to data from previous Australian and UK surveys, using a weighted average method in conjunction with a Monte-Carlo simulation. We find that the average Australian household disposes of 2.6 kgs of food waste per week through informal routes (1.7 kgs via household composting, 0.2 kgs via animals, and 0.6 kgs via sewage). This represents 20% of Australian household food waste flows. Our results highlight that informal food waste is a sizable food waste flow from Australian homes, deserving of greater research and government attention. Our examination of the full extent of food waste by disposal mode provides waste managers and policy makers with clear disposal routes to target for behaviour change and positive environmental outcomes.

Comparison of environmental performance for different waste management scenarios in East Africa: The case of Kampala City, Uganda

Poor waste flows management in East African cities has become an environmental and public health concerns to the city authorities and the general public. We assessed the environmental impacts of waste recycling in Kampala City, for four designed waste management scenarios, namely: (1) Scenario S1 representing the current status quo, (2) Scenario S2 maximizing landfill, (3) Scenario S3 combining composting, resource recovery, landfill and sewerage, and (4) Scenario S4 integrating anaerobic digestion, resource recovery, landfill and sewerage. These scenarios are quantitatively assessed for environmental impacts of global warming, acidification, nutrient enrichment, photochemical ozone formation, water pollution and resource conservation. Sensitivity analyses are performed on the robustness for the ranking of the scenarios. Scenario S4 integrating anaerobic digestion, resource recovery, landfill and sewerage performs best for all environmental impact categories. Sensitivity analysis shows that this assessment result is robust. Therefore, integrating waste recycling into the formal waste management system for Kampala would considerably reduce the environmental impacts of waste flows. Also, considering the similarities in municipal solid waste compositions, sanitation systems and settlement patterns among the large cities in East Africa, assimilating waste recycling into the formal waste management systems for these cities would results in minimal environmental impacts for their waste flows.

Framework for integration of informal waste management sector with the formal sector in Pakistan

Historically, waste pickers around the globe have utilised urban solid waste as a principal source of livelihood. Formal waste management sectors usually perceive the informal waste collection/recycling networks as backward, unhygienic and generally incompatible with modern waste management systems. It is proposed here that through careful planning and administration, these seemingly troublesome informal networks can be integrated into formal waste management systems in developing countries, providing mutual benefits. A theoretical framework for integration based on a case study in Lahore, Pakistan, is presented. The proposed solution suggests that the municipal authority should draw up and agree on a formal work contract with the group of waste pickers already operating in the area. The proposed system is assessed using the integration radar framework to classify and analyse possible intervention points between the sectors. The integration of the informal waste workers with the formal waste management sector is not a one dimensional or single step process. An ideal solution might aim for a balanced focus on all four categories of intervention, although this may be influenced by local conditions. Not all the positive benefits will be immediately apparent, but it is expected that as the acceptance of such projects increases over time, the informal recycling economy will financially supplement the formal system in many ways.

Official Recycling and Scavengers: Symbiotic or Conflicting?

For decades, if not for centuries, collection of end-of-use products was performed by scavengers, especially if these products could be reused or if there was value to be recovered. Nowadays, most societies in their effort to increase availability of natural resources and avoid landfills have displaced scavengers by formal waste collection systems. However, scavenging still exists, mainly in case of collection capacity shortages or low standard of living. While the participation of scavengers in waste collection systems has a social dimension, economical and environmental dimensions are also important. Informal recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment by scavengers not only constrains profits of the formal system. In their effort to recover the value of used products scavengers also pollute the environment. In this paper we develop a system dynamics model to study the impact of scavenging on the operations of the formal recovery system of waste electrical and electronic equipment. We consider three different regulatory measures; a legislation that ignores scavengers though they participate, a legislation setting barriers to the participation of scavengers and a legislation that incorporates them into the formal waste management system. We use data from a real world closed-loop supply chain that operates in Greece. Extended numerical experimentation investigates the impact of the three different regulatory measures on economical, environmental and social sustainability. The results show that a legislation that incorporates scavengers into the formal waste management system is beneficial for all aspects of sustainability.