Solid Waste Management and Recycling

6ISA BAUD

1.3. ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES:PUBLIC,PRIVATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY STAKEHOLDERS

Urban solid waste management as seen from the perspective of local authorities
includes the activities of collection of domestic solid waste, either through
door-to-door or neighbourhood collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste
(usually in dumpsites). A more environmentally oriented view of urban solid waste
management includes reuse, recycling and recovery activities, and safe disposal of
waste (in sanitary landfills or through incineration): the so-called waste hierarchy, as
shown below. This study utilizes the latter framework for analysis, focusing specific
attention on the reuse, recycling and recovery processes already existing in many
developing countries in the private sector. This allows us to present alternative
scenarios to policy makers, community-based organisations (CBOs), NGOs, and local
public bodies and private enterprises, showing the kinds of contributions different
activities can make in the direction of more environmentally sustainable development
in the sector.

The character of urban waste differs between developing and industrialised countries,
and between larger and smaller towns. Cointreau-Levine (1998) has estimated that in
developing countries the extent of organic waste is relatively high, constituting
between 40-70 percent of solid waste in developing countries. The increasing use of
plastics as packaging material, and other inorganic materials has caused the character
of solid waste to change composition in recent years (UNCHS, 1996; Schübeler, 1996;
Nunan, 2001; Rosenberg and Furedy, 1996). Therefore, because of the potential of
organic waste also to be reused and recycled, it was decided to outline specifically
what activities were carried out with respect to both inorganic and organic waste flows
in the course of this study.

Figure 1.1. Waste management hierarchy

Disposal

Reduction

Recycling

Re-use

Waste minimisation