Sustainability Assessment of Solid Waste Management in Zimbabwe: A case study of Bulawayo Residential Suburbs

Improper management of solid waste poses many challenges to the stakeholders such as residents, local authorities, business community and other support groups. The general objective of the study is to assess the sustainability of waste management in Bulawayo suburbs. Specific objectives were to characterise the solid waste generated in the suburbs, to examine the solid waste management criteria in Bulawayo Residential area and to evaluate potential gaps which can be used to bring sustainable interventions in Solid Waste Management system Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used by the researcher to collect data. Stratifies systematic sampling was employed to select 24 households. Bulawayo City Council officials to be interviewed were selected through the use of non-probability sampling. Data was collected through the use of interview-administered questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and observations. The results of the study indicated that Solid Waste Management in Bulawayo suburbs is inefficient.

8.51 tonnes of solid waste is being produced per week in suburbs and only 2.0 tonnes is being collected during the entire week and 6.5 tonnes is left uncollected. This has led to widespread illegal dumping of waste, inconsistent collection of waste, insufficient provision of solid waste receptacles from the city council and the Bulawayo City Council dumps its solid waste in a ghost mine shaft (Richmond mine) as its sanitary landfill. It was also noted that there is no separation of waste according to type at the source. The study therefore recommended for an increase in awareness campaigns to ensure a change in residents attitude towards solid waste management. In addition, the Bulawayo City Council should play its part in collecting of refuse from households by increasing the frequency with which waste is collected. The residents need also to be notified of the financial benefit of solid waste such as decomposable organic matter being used to generate biogas.

Materials and Methodology

The study adopted a case study method because data collection and analysis is performed within the context of phenomenon, and it enables capturing of complexities of real life situations so that the phenomenon can be studied in greater levels of depth. The study population involved Bulawayo City Council Officials involved in Solid Waste Management (Ward 3 Councillor, Director of Engineering Department, Town Planner, Environmental Health Technicians and officials from the department of Housing and Community services. In order to achieve the research objectives, the study adopted the use of observations, interview administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to gather data.

The interview administered questionnaire was compiled taking into consideration of the fact that communities consists of educated and less educated residents hence literacy level of respondent was not very necessary. Semi-structured interviews were meant to assist in explaining and interpreting the data collected through both observation and interview administered questionnaires. These were administered face to face. The research used secondary and primary data collection methods. Secondary data substantiates and increases evidence from other sources hence the researcher made use of solid waste management documents such as Solid Waste Management System Plan, Technical Requirements Document for the Waste Flow Analysis, World Bank Service Level Benchmark Documents and other strategic plan documents as well as meetings. Household samples were manually taken from one corner to the other corner of the 8 streets of the study area on the refuse collection day. Solid waste samples were also collected from a commercial setting, offices and educational facilities within the study area. To mitigate against possible errors in estimating, a dual approach to collection of data was done. Waste generation amount was estimated through use of empirical data calculated as
W=per capita generation ×population
Where, W is Total Municipal Solid waste generated per day

Data Results and Analysis

The study area (Bulawayo Suburbs) generates and disposes large quantities of paper, plastics, glass, yard waste including tree leaves and other miscellaneous materials, which are collectively labelled Municipal Solid Waste. Biodegradable fraction in the collected MSW was found to be contributing to half of the waste generated. The physical composition including papers, glass, plastics, etc contributed to 29% and the mean inert composition of inert, ash and debris in the study contributed 21.06% of the whole Municipal Solid Waste, which might be due to burning of municipal solid waste, construction activities progressing at the study are, etc. The solid waste generated in city suburbs is primarily produced by residential, institutional and commercial sources. Medical waste is not disposed through the local authority solid waste management system, they are incinerated at point of generation as per the provision of the Public Health Act [chapter 15:17], this leaves the waste generated in Suburbs to be non-hazardous to the humans.

A total of 47.0596 tonnes of municipal solid waste were being generated in the study area where 2.8kg was being produced per capita per day, an average of 4 people per household over 686 residential stands (8 streets) and 6 institutional stands. The obtained value of 47.0596tonnes per week is too large a value to be collected weekly using one compactor that compacts only at most 10 tonnes per every collection. It was also observed that a significant number of households did not bring out all their waste for collection during the study period, some giving reasons that they do not have solid waste receptacles and they are the ones practising damping on illegal sites and this to a greater extent affected the study results. The collection of waste once a week led to a collection efficiency of 25%, which is too low compared to the generation of solid waste being within the study area prompted for illegal open dumping and backyard incineration. The Bulawayo City Council transports solid waste to the disposal site and the waste is not confined, compacted and covered as per demands of a sanitary landfill. The landfill which is a shaft does not have a leachate removal system hence groundwater contamination is inevitable.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The results of the study indicated that of the 8.51 tonnes produced per day within the study area only 2.0 tonnes is collected per day and 6.51 tonnes is left uncollected. There is widespread illegal dumping of waste, inconsistent collection of waste, insufficient provision of waste receptacles and the City Council’s official dumpsite is illegal. The researcher recommended for:
• Need to encourage for separation of waste at source which maybe be motivated by the Council giving incentives to residents in so doing
• There is need for the adoption of modern technology such as Geographical Information Systems, Global Positioning System and integrated software packages which enable better quality data to be collected without the use of estimation or manual data entry.

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