270 JOHAN POST AND ISA BAUD
Reuse and diversion of organic waste: contextual factors
Organic waste makes up a major portion of municipal waste in both cities, as else-
where in developing countries. Therefore, the patterns of recovery are a major concern
both for SWM and in promoting sustainable development.
The diversion and reuse of urban organic waste in Hyderabad and Nairobi consist of
a peculiar mix of private ingenuity, community activism, and donor supported social
welfarism. The (local) authorities have largely stayed aloof in this aspect of the SWM
system. But although official policies for enhancing organic waste recovery are sadly
missing, the MCH has at least attempted, in the 1970s and 1980s, to make use of urban
organic waste as a resource. Unfortunately, experiences with large-scale municipal
composting have been disappointing and hence enthusiasm to continue investing in
such operations has waned. Currently, the MCH does provide some help to small
pilot-scale composting activities (providing them with land, sometimes with market
wastes) albeit more as a political gesture than an attempt to reduce municipal waste
flows. So far, the MCH has not taken any initiative to enhance waste separation
through sensitising campaigns, technical facilitation and/or regulatory provisions.
However, this situation may change in the near future as a result of the recent prom-
ulgation of the national directive for solid waste management in large cities, making
separation at source and composting mandatory. But although the national context
seems to have become more sensitive to the idea of addressing urban organic waste
problems, the MCH, for the moment, has put its trust in a private attempt for energy
recovery from (organic) waste^1. This move acts as a disincentive to a more vigorous
policy towards the utilisation of urban organic waste in (peri)-urban agriculture.
In Nairobi, the overall political situation has obstructed any attempt at coherent policy
formulation, not to say implementation. Except for occasional support to composting
groups (providing them with land and waste) the authorities have not done anything
to make better use of the organic waste potential. What takes place in terms of waste
diversion is largely through collaboration of non-public actors In fact, an important
observation in both cities is that composting projects primarily arise from CBO-NGO
collaboration rather than stemming from public sector policy interventions. Most
NGOs firmly believe in the potentials of community action and facilitate such proc-
esses financially and technically. However, in Nairobi and Hyderabad they have not
really managed to take the idea of neighbourhood composting beyond the level of
experimentation and to turn it into a cornerstone of official SWM policy.
- Although this idea has gained some popularity in policy circles, most energy from solid waste projects
so far have failed (Furedy, personal communication).