Solid Waste Management and Recycling

RE-USE PRACTICES AND ISSUES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 201

Type and origin of
wastes, or site

Materials included Reuse and diversion practices

Residential kitchen and
yard wastes

Kitchen wastes with some garden

trimmings, leaves, grass cuttings

Backyard composting for home

gardening; domestic animal

feeding; neighbourhood

composting and vermicomposting

Restaurant and canteen
food wastes

Raw peelings and stems, rotten

fruits and vegetables and leftover

cooked foods, bones

Sold to poultry, pig, goat farms;

bones to feed and fertilizer

factories

Shop/ institutional
wastes

Organic and food waste. May

contain other wastes

Households, shops, institutions

may separate organics for

community composting

Market wastes Organic wastes of fruit and
vegetable markets

Sold or given to farmers; collected

for centralized compost plants

Processed industrial
wastes (canning
industries, breweries,
etc.)

Food wastes, bagasse, organic

residues

Sold to fertilizer companies; sold

for domestic fuel

Parks and road verges Grass clippings, branches, leaves Composted by Parks departments;
scavenged for fuel and
construction; used as animal fodder

Mixed municipal solid
wastes

Full range of local solid wastes,

incl. small industries’ wastes,

biomedical wastes, human and

animal excreta

Diverted to peri-urban farms,

‘central’ compost plants,

neighbourhood compost schemes

Organic material
‘mined’ from garbage
dumps

Decomposed mixed municipal

wastes with non-biodegradable

residues

Nearby farmers collect waste from

current and old dumps;

municipality may auction waste

pits; waste may be sieved at the site

Old garbage dumps Decomposed garbage Old dumps are often cultivated in
Asia, and to some extent in Africa

Animal excreta Cattle, poultry, pig dung from
urban and peri-urban farms and
stables

Used for fuel, for construction, for

fertilizer

Slaughterhouse,
butcher, tannery wastes

Bones, skin, intestines, horns,

scrapings, etc.

Sold to fertilizer and feed factories:

rendered, composted; sometimes

applied to farm fields with minimal

processing

Racecourses Horse dung Sold for mushroom growing, horti-
culture

Table 9.1. Main practices of urban organic waste reuse in developing countries