Solid Waste in Africa
Solid Waste in Africa
Solid Waste in Africa
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Abstract
1. Introduction
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Regional Development in Africa
Figure 1.
Total municipal solid waste generation by region (adapted from [1]).
constrained public and private sector waste services and infrastructure, and further
exacerbate the current state of waste management. In fact, the rate of growth in
waste generation in Africa is expected to be so significant that any decrease in waste
generation expected in other regions globally will be overshadowed by Africa,
particularly Sub-Saharan Africa.
2. Background
The first Global Waste Management Outlook, published by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Solid Waste Association
(ISWA) in 2015 [2], highlighted the need for greater detail on the generation and
management of waste at the regional level. The first Africa Waste Management
Outlook published by the UNEP in June 2018 was in response to this global call [3].
The Africa Waste Management Outlook sets out the current state of solid waste
management in Africa, including the state of waste governance; the associated envi-
ronmental, social and economic impacts of waste; and the opportunities that waste
provides through appropriate solutions and financing mechanisms. This chapter
summarizes the key findings of the Africa Waste Management Outlook and places
them within the context of development in Africa.
Available data shows that 125 million tonnes per annum of municipal solid waste
(MSW) was generated in Africa in 2012, of which 81 million tonnes (65%) was
from sub-Saharan Africa [4]. This is expected to grow to 244 million tonnes per year
by 2025. However, with an average waste collection rate of only 55% (68 million
tonnes) [4], nearly half of all MSW generated in Africa, remains within our cities
and towns, dumped onto sidewalks, open fields, stormwater drains and rivers. The
average MSW collection rate in sub-Saharan Africa is lower at only 44%, although
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Solid Waste Management in Africa: Governance Failure or Development Opportunity?
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86974
the coverage varies considerably between cities, from less than 20% to well above
90% (Figure 2). The average MSW collection rate for the continent is expected to
increase to only 69% by 2025 [4].
Good waste collection services are often only found in the city centres, while
municipal waste services in suburbs and peri-urban areas are usually poor. The situ-
ation is much worse in rural areas where often no formal waste collection services
exist. Current MSW collection services in most African countries are therefore
completely inadequate resulting in the leakage of waste into the environment,
including the freshwater and marine environment.
Considering that an estimated 80–90% of the MSW generated in Africa is
recyclable, it makes little sense that more than 90% of the waste generated in Africa
is still disposed of to land, typically to uncontrolled and controlled dumpsites. With
so little regard for the opportunity that waste presents as secondary resource, only
4% of the waste generated in Africa is currently recycled, often by very active, but
typically marginalized, informal reclaimers.
On average, 57% of MSW in Africa is wet, biodegradable, organic waste
(Figure 3). This high organic waste content, relative to paper and packaging, is
typical of MSW in developing countries. Biodegradable organic waste, such as food
and garden waste, can be easily processed into valuable products such as compost
or biogas, yet it remains largely an untapped resource for the continent. As a result,
there is a growing move internationally, including in Africa, towards the decentral-
ized management of organic waste through small-scale composting and anaerobic
digestion due to the failures in municipal waste collection services [8].
A waste stream of growing concern for Africa is waste plastic, with an estimated
13% of the MSW generated in Africa being plastic (Figure 3), the bulk of which is
also dumped to land [9].
Waste streams in Africa are also changing as consumer behavior changes and as
new markets in a growing middle class emerge, with increasing volumes of packag-
ing and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) being generated, often
with inadequate end-of-life solutions for these products [10, 11]. Cheap and sub-
standard products are increasingly being imported into African countries leading
to new and emerging waste streams. The amount and types of hazardous waste are
also increasing, with little awareness of its nature or management.
Food losses and waste in Africa are significant, occurring primarily at the early
stages of the food supply chain [12]. In sub-Saharan Africa, roughly 37% of all the
Figure 2.
MSW collection coverage for cities in Africa (adapted from [5–7]).
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Regional Development in Africa
Figure 3.
MSW composition in sub-Saharan Africa and global [9].
food produced is lost or wasted [12]. For a continent with high levels of poverty,
hunger and malnutrition, the loss and wastage of more than a third of all food
produced, is unacceptable.
Figure 4.
African countries that have implemented local or national bans against waste plastics (dark blue shaded)
(adapted from [15]).
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Solid Waste Management in Africa: Governance Failure or Development Opportunity?
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86974
As a result, the response from many African countries has been to implement
product bans on “problematic” products, particularly on single-use plastics.
According to UNEP [15], 29 countries in Africa have already implemented some
sort of regulation against plastics either at local or national level (Figure 4).
These regulations vary from a ban on single-use (thin) plastic bags (and associ-
ated requirements for bag thickness) to complete bans on all plastic bags. The
growing public outcry against plastic is now sparking action by governments on
possible further bans on other single-use plastic products, such as PET beverage
bottles and food services industry products such as plastic straws, cups, contain-
ers and utensils.
The slow adoption, limited use and poor design of economic instruments in
solid waste in Africa, including alternative policy instruments such as extended
producer responsibility (EPR) represents a “lost opportunity” [16].
In addition, the non-domestication of international agreements is making Africa
an easy target for illegal dumping of hazardous waste from outside of the continent
[17, 18].
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Regional Development in Africa
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Solid Waste Management in Africa: Governance Failure or Development Opportunity?
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86974
7. Conclusions
Africa faces many challenges with respect to solid waste management. Factors
such as lack of awareness; weak environmental legislation and enforcement;
and limited resources, including financial resources, result in inefficient waste
management in most African countries, which directly impacts upon human and
environmental health. Available evidence suggests that the current poor state of
solid waste management is largely due to failures in governance and organizational
weaknesses resulting in poor service delivery and a perceived high risk for private
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Regional Development in Africa
ii. Reuse and recycling of paper and packaging e.g. plastic, paper, metal, glass
The Africa Waste Management Outlook has set out a vision for Africa to “Extend
regular and reliable waste collection services to all, with safe disposal of residual waste
to engineered landfills, while maximizing the recovery of secondary resources from these
waste streams through social and technological innovations appropriate for Africa.”
Figure 5.
Proposed approach to addressing solid waste in Africa [3].
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Solid Waste Management in Africa: Governance Failure or Development Opportunity?
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86974
This requires that government, business and civil society “bring waste under
control” (i.e. collection services for all and safe disposal of waste to engineered land-
fills), while simultaneously “harnessing the opportunities of waste as resource” through
reuse, recycling and recovery. This will require a clear strategy for (i) capacity
development and awareness raising, (ii) evidence generation and use in support of
decision-making and policy development, (iii) strengthening institutions, policies
and enforcing legislation, and (iv) adopting appropriate, inclusive waste services
and technologies (Figure 5).
Good governance is crucial for creating an enabling environment for sustainable
materials management (including waste management) [40]. As such, there is a need
to strengthen capacity (financial, institutional, technological and infrastructural)
to drive environmentally sound waste management [41]. Since solid waste manage-
ment is a sustainable development issue that cuts across socio-economic activities, it
must be considered a political priority for Africa.
Finally, regional and sub-regional approaches to solving solid waste issues in
Africa, with sharing of information and experiences, must be explored as capacity
and resources vary greatly between countries.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the role of the UNEP (through its Africa Office and its
International Environmental Technology Centre—IETC), without whose leader-
ship, the development of the Africa Waste Management Outlook would not have
been possible. The financial contribution of the Governments of Japan and South
Africa in the development of the Outlook are also acknowledged.
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Regional Development in Africa
Author details
© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
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Solid Waste Management in Africa: Governance Failure or Development Opportunity?
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86974
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