Urban waste management
Creating healthier places to live and work
Waste is a universal and highly visible phenomenon. Attitudes towards solid waste are often contradictory. Affluent societies often see it plainly as garbage or an environmental problem, but in many cities in Africa and other developing countries it is an important and flexible source of income for the large part of urban population and provides raw material to many sectors of economy.
Waste collectors form a vital part of the economy in nearly every city of the developing world. Operating on the streets, kerbsides and dumps, this group of people collect, sort, clean, recycle and sell material thrown away by others, therefore contributing to public health, sanitation and environmental sustainability. According to estimates, “about 1 per cent of the urban population – at least 15 million people – survive by salvaging recyclables from waste”, in the developing world.
Practical Action are working with some of the poorest communities to safely and securely improve their waste management and collection methods. This brings improvements to the health of the slum dwelling families with the creation of safer healthier places to live and work.
Our approach
Our approach on waste-related work is similar to that in other infrastructure and services. It falls into four areas:
- Working towards improving service provision in slum, peri urban and low income areas. This involves making arrangements for waste collection through organising communities or influencing municipalities and private sector. We expect that the social outcome of this provision, if done at scale, is improved health and a cleaner living environment.
- We encourage income and employment creation from waste related activities and promote decent, safer work for the poor. This can often be combined with the provision of services in their own areas, or other areas where the income potential may be better. This is also supported by introducing innovative approaches and better technologies for waste reduction, recycling and reuse.
- We directly support the development of better technologies, knowledge, innovation and communication for all the actors in waste management. This can be done in a number of ways, for example by encouraging research organisations to focus on topics which benefit the poor, promoting mutual learning and enhancing abilities of self analysis and learning.
- We influence national and global policies in waste management in favour of poor men and women. We promote successful models and lobby for better practices globally.
First prize for Tulasa
Tulasa Gyawali from Syauli Baazar, 10 Bharatpur, Nepal, won first prize in a national innovation fair and was asked to share her story in an international symposium for her continuous effort on utilising waste in urban agriculture.
“I was honoured when I received the first prize. In my house, I have a compost bin and pits and I practice vermin composting too. I do not throw decomposable waste; instead I convert them to resources and use them to grow organic vegetables, she smiles.”
The Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM) project in collaboration with Bharatpur Municipality had earlier distributed compost bins in Syauli Baazar. Residents of the community do not throw wastes in the street corner as before. People are making compost from organic waste. They separate plastic in their homes and they sell them to the plastic collectors.
According to Tulasa, “this is one of the positive changes from the project. Waste management training to the community has changed people’s attitude toward disposing waste. Now we think waste as a resource.”
Tulasa and other community members were taken to India for a waste management exposure visit. “The visit was educating and motivating for me and to my neighbours. We observed the good practice in Forum of Recycle and Environment (FORCE), Mumbai and now we have replicated that practice in our community.”
In Tulasa’s community, 10 households have built a masonry compost pit in order to accommodate more organic waste and to sell the compost to the local nursery and farmers. This is an example of how awareness can make a difference.
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Strengthening local capacities in Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM) in small and medium municipalities of Nepal
A project to improve the health and environmental conditions of poor communities in four municipalities of Nepal through the adoption of a community-based, sustainable waste management system.
Best Practices on Solid Waste Management of Nepalese Cities
This book contains a range of best practices on solid waste management from various municipalities of Nepal. It also contains the admirable initiatives of national and local NGOs/CBOs. It is hoped that this book will be highly instrumental regarding solid waste management to urban centres as well as emerging towns of developing countries.
Community-based waste management comes to the rescue
Most local authorities in Zimbabwe are struggling to provide and sustain adequate levels of urban services. As the country’s economic hardships deepen, major cities and towns are facing a growing number of migrants to the urban areas in search of employment. The result has been an even greater strain on the provision of services and amenities by the local authorities, with such as solid waste management being the worst affected.
