Solid Waste Management and Recycling

JOHAN POSTAND ISA BAUD

CHAPTER 13

GOVERNMENT,MARKET AND COMMUNITY IN URBAN SOLID

WASTE MANAGEMENT;PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALS IN THE

TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

13.1. INTRODUCTION

In this final chapter we return to the core question of the book: to what extent are

socio-economic and environmental concerns integrated in the area of SWM, and do

they contribute to urban sustainable development? The major results in the domains

studied are compared for the two locations in terms of their context, the outcomes and

the system concerns they raise. The criteria for sustainable development given in the

first chapter provide the guideline for doing so. We also briefly reflect on the implica-

tions of the findings for the debate on governance, partnerships, social capital and

urban sustainable development. Finally, we present some areas in which we feel there

is scope for future research.

13.2. COMPARING RESULTS BY DOMAIN

Solid waste collection: contextual factors

The first research question deals with the impact of the institutional setting on the

nature and functioning of activities, actors and partnerships in SWM. The investiga-

tions attest to the importance of the local political and administrative setting for

effective SWC. In Hyderabad there seems to be a genuine commitment to the public

interest and authorities at different levels have all recognized the need to take action.

This is apparent, for example, in the issuing of new Municipal Solid Waste Rules by

the Central Government in 2000, in the launching of the Andhra Pradesh Clean and

Green Campaign in 1998, and in the large-scale privatisation exercise of the MCH.

Through privatisation, the MCH has managed to increase spatial coverage as well as

the quality of SWC services and has done so at lower costs per ton than previously

when the SWC system was entirely based on direct public provision. In Nairobi the

local government is largely unaccountable, unresponsive and inefficient, as is

apparent in the virtual neglect of the problems of SWC on the part of the authorities.

This is closely related to the difficulties in the country’s political system, but is aggra-

vated by the continuous political struggle between the (oppositional) NCC and the

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I. Baud et al. (eds.), Solid Waste Management and Recycling, 259-281.
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.