From problem to opportunity
The solid waste we flush down our toilets and into the sewers is something most of us don’t need – or want – to worry about.
Yet more than 1.5 billion people still do not have basic sanitation services, such as private toilets or latrines, and 419 million are forced to defecate in street gutters, behind bushes, or into open bodies of water, according to a 2022 World Health Organisation report.
Solid waste management, also known as faecal sludge management, can tackle the significant health, environmental, and social consequences of municipal waste.
What are solid waste management practices?
The term ‘solid waste management’ refers to the process of collecting, treating, and disposing of solid wastes.
Effective waste management is expensive, often comprising 20% to 50% of municipal budgets.
Why is solid waste management (and faecal sludge management) important?
Water sanitation and health are inextricably linked and inadequate wastewater treatment can lead to the transmission of cholera, dysentery, typhoid, polio, and other diseases.
A total of 1.4 million people die each year from inadequate drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene – almost all in low- and middle-income countries.
How can the sanitation situation be improved?
Improving water sanitation can be difficult because of the lack of space for waste facilities in high-density urban areas, extreme weather events, and local prohibitions on building new permanent structures.
Without connection to a sewer network, toilets in poorer neighbourhoods and ‘slum’ areas of developing countries are often container-based and are emptied by workers who endure harsh conditions and stigmatisation despite the important service they provide.
Practical Action leads innovations to improve faecal sludge management to unlock significant and sustainable benefits for people and the planet.
We work with communities and service providers to develop people-centred solutions for urban sanitation. We begin by working with the existing and thriving network of informal workers to improve conditions and services for all.
Importantly, Practical Action brings local government, private service providers, and community representatives together to develop long-lasting solutions.
How does better faecal sludge management help the environment?
We’re working with communities in poorer countries to make cities cleaner, healthier, and fairer places for people to live and work.
Practical Action’s inclusive model improves conditions for service users and workers in wastewater treatment while using a ‘reduce re-use recycle’ approach to produce value in a range of waste products.
Our approach integrates solid waste management and household waste management to prevent household waste from ending up in latrines and under-pressure sewage infrastructure. This incorporates multiple solutions, such as the ‘Vacutag’ machines that allow pit latrines to be safely emptied, combined with the construction of decentralised sludge treatment plants where the waste can be treated instead of being dumped into rivers or wasteland.
This safely treated faecal sludge can be combined with organic household waste collection to create organic fertiliser and compressed biogas, which generate new income streams for communities and contribute to a lasting sanitation system that helps both people and the environment.
Is solid waste management effective?
Yes. For example, Practical Action teamed up with the H&M Foundation to connect communities and local governments in Bangladesh with the expertise needed to help them clean up the slums and build a complete, sustainable, and safe sanitation solution for the future.
We set up community groups and events with the local press to get stakeholders and residents on board and educated about the ways diseases spread and show them how to practise good hygiene.
A new faecal sludge treatment plant made it easier and safer for workers to empty pit latrines and we built two community-managed, decentralised water treatment systems which can be replicated across the region, creating additional jobs.
Practical Action also supported local entrepreneurs to set up drinking water purification and distribution systems, making clean water more widely accessible.
Finally, 10 low-cost community toilets and five cluster toilets were constructed in the poorest slum areas.
