Solid Waste Management for Sustainable Development
in Developing Countries
Retno Damayanti Kusumaningrum
rdamayantikim@gmail.com
Environmental issue has been becoming the most problematic issue in many countries nowadays. One of those problems is about the solid waste that haven’t managed efficiently, especially in developing countries. The amount of solid waste has increased significantly per year. The data from United Nations Environment Programm states that current global waste generation levels are approximately 1.3billion tonnes per year, and are expected to increase to approximately 2.2 billion tonnes per year by 2025. This represents a significant increase in per capita waste generation rates, from 1.2 to 1.42 kg per person per day in the next fifteen years.
The composition of global waste depends greatly on the economic development of a country, as well as on its culture, climate, and other factors. Low-income countries have the highest portion of organic waste at around 53%. High-income countries produce a high share of paper (24%), plastics (11%) and other inorganic material, with organic waste's share at only 34%. (Stiehler, 2017). Typically, countries with higher incomes produce more packaging materials and recyclable wastes; lower-income countries have less commercial and industrial activity and therefore lower waste generation rates, more organics and higher water content. (GTZ Spies, 2010)
Solid Waste Challenge in Developing Countries
Comparing to the developed countries, the developing countries face more challenges and limitations of how they manage their waste efficiently. There are various factors that influence the management of waste treatment. First, the lack of human resources. There are a limited number of experts who have enough experience to handle waste efficiently. In addition, the level of public awareness of waste management is still low. On the contrary, the participation and awareness of public is a key element to support the good waste management system. Second, the growth of population that is uncontrolled. The increase of population in a country give an effect to the solid waste management. The more population has grown, the more volume of solid waste will increase. The increasing of solid waste will give a bad impact on the environment if the governments are unable to manage it. Third, regulations and financial constraints obstruct the management system. The funding allocations do not give a priority to the solid waste management. Besides, the developing countries do not have enough financial support to assist the waste management like what developed countries did, because waste management infrastructure requires high investment to operate. Gunsilus and Whiteman (2010) also stated that Unclear distribution of responsibilities, the inefficiency of public waste management services, non-transparent management processes and poor financing mechanisms are some of the common problems in waste management in developing countries.
Solid Waste Management Should Become A Priority
Waste management is a global as well as a national and a local issue. Waste management plays an important role in the global cleanliness. When the waste is disposed of properly, the pollution in the air and marine ecosystem can be prevented early. We will get many bad impacts if we disregard the waste disposal.
Solid waste is part of modern daily life in line with the increasing number of people, the rising amount of waste generated per person and also the substances of waste are increasing in complexity. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that solid waste accounted for 3% of global Green House Gas emissions in 2010, mainly due to methane emissions from landfills. It causes the local air pollution and influences the air pollution on earth indirectly. Uncollected solid waste also clogs drains and causes flooding and subsequent spread of waterborne diseases. Not only dangerous for the environment, uncontrolled waste management also give effect on health risk. The more waste is generated, the bigger its impact will be on the environment and on our health. If hazardous wastes are present in the garbage, contact with critical compounds3 may occur. The exposure to these can cause cancer, birth defects, metabolic problems and failure of some organs.
It is obvious that proper waste management helps to create eco-friendly ambiance, whereas the uncontrolled way of managing waste can cause the damaging environment. The good environment will create the healthier society and support the sustainability of a country.
Waste Management Strategies
Managing solid waste well and affordable is one of the key challenges of the 21st century, and one of the key responsibilities of a city government. Waste management can preserve the environment. We can’t simply burn all waste. It can be dangerous to the environment because it releases toxins, pollutions. It can be harmful for the ozone layer as well. There are some strategies in order to manage waste properly. First, the developing country cities are still experiencing rapid population growth, so one element of an integrated solid waste management solution has to be how to tackle the exponential growth in waste quantities. (Spies, 2010). Second, there should be an addition to funding allocation in order to create better infrastructures for managing solid waste and also clear framework or policies. Third, the waste management should use the proper way that can help to reduce the amount of solid waste and also prevent the environment from the bad effect of disposal.
There are several methods are commonly used for waste disposal. Each method has its own effect on the environment. Landfilling is the least favorable waste treatment method. Waste is buried, and this process is accompanied by negative side-effects such as great atmosphere damage, produce flammable gas like methane, and pose a hydrological threat which could result in pollution of groundwater. The next method is incineration. Incineration is a process by which the organic substances contained in waste are combusted. The process turns waste into ash, flue gas and heat. It is an expensive waste-disposal method. Incinerators use three to five times more energy than they recover from waste. Even though attempts are made to clean the by-products from pollutants, incineration generators are great polluters compared to fossil fuel operated generators
According to the United Nation Environment Programme, the priorities of good resource management are expressed by the ‘3Rs’ – reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduce the quantities of waste being generated. It is also important for rapidly growing cities in middle- and low-income countries to bring their waste growth rates under control. Reuse products that can be reused, repaired, refurbished, or remanufactured to have longer useful lives. Recycling is a process by which waste material is converted into reusable objects. Recycle needs materials that can be extracted, recovered and returned to industrial value chains, where they strengthen local, regional and global production. The last, return nutrients to the soil, by composting or digesting organic wastes together with safely managed and treated human excreta. These are sources of key nutrients for the agricultural value chain, and their proper utilization is important to food security and sustainable development. Following this method, it focuses on attempting to repair and reuse products before turning to disposal.
Conclusion
Managing solid waste is important because waste management is related to many fields, such as health, environment, and society. The indicator of good governance can be seen from the services of waste management. However, solid waste management in developing countries is still having low priority area. Therefore, in order to create the effective waste management, the government should be supported by the stakeholders, company, and communities. There should be an understanding and adequate knowledge from the society. The system of reducing, reusing and recycling is still be considered as the most desirable disposal method. The most important thing is that protecting the environment should be participated by everyone all around the world.
REFERENCES
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GTZ, S. S. (2010). Health Risks Related to Solid Waste Management. Solid Waste Management in the World's Cities: Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities 2010, 14.
Gunsilius, E., Whiteman, A., Scheinberg, A., Wilson, D. C., & Rodic, L. (2010). Waste management and governance: Collaborative approaches for public service delivery. Solid waste management in the world’s cities, 187-190.
Mamen, S.A. (2016). Holistic Waste Management Approach For Eco Towns. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
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Stiehler, A. (2017). Longer Term Investments Waste Management and Recycling. CIO WM Research. Accessed on March 25, 2018 at https://www.ubs.com.
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