Failing Services on Urban Waste Management in Developing Countries: A Review on Symptoms, Diagnoses, and Interventions : A Review on Symptoms, Diagnoses, and Interventions
06 Dec 2019-Sustainability (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI))-Vol. 11, Iss: 24, pp 6977
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a review of literature on this question over the last decade and show that research is mostly on symptoms and has not led to a deeper diagnosis of causes.
Abstract: The potential and scale of cities enable economic growth and the improvement of citizens’ access to jobs, education, healthcare, culture, public utilities and services. Solid waste management (SWM) is one of the key services provided by cities. Its operations are complex, very visible to the general public, and impacted by strong financial, societal, and political constraints. Performances in developing countries, however, are not positive. United Nations research shows urban collection services covering no more than 39% of the population in low-income countries. Why are many cities in developing countries not able to use their increasing wealth and scale for basic SWM services such as city cleaning, collection, and sustainable landfilling? This paper provides a review of literature on this question over the last decade. It shows that research is mostly on symptoms and has not led to a deeper diagnosis of causes. Lack of resources, infrastructure, awareness, and institutional strength are often pinpointed as causes but, in fact, they should be addressed as symptoms. These symptoms should be designated as dependent variables in a complex causal network with systemic feedbacks, hindering or neutralizing attempts to improve performances if not properly dealt with. Research should concentrate more on assessing the relations between urbanization, urban processes, and urban governance that shape the performance of urban solid waste management. System dynamics modeling may provide new approaches for this diagnosis.
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Journal Article•
1,050 citations
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of the SWC system concerning solid waste collection objectives, constraints, the different optimization approaches, and models, along with their strengths and weakness is delivered.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the Gas Generation Model (LandGEM) to evaluate energy recovery potential from solid waste in Kakia open dumpsite landfill, the gas generation model was used according to LandGEM results, landfill gas (methane and carbon dioxide) generation potential and capacity were determined.
Abstract: In many countries, open dumping is considered the simplest, cheapest, and most cost-effective way of managing solid wastes Thus, in underdeveloped economies, Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) are openly dumped Improper waste disposal causes air, water, and soil pollution, impairing soil permeability and blockage of the drainage system Solid Waste Management (SWM) can be enhanced by operating a well-engineered site with the capacity to reduce, reuse, and recover MSW Makkah city is one of the holiest cities in the world It harbors a dozen of holy places Millions of people across the globe visit the place every year to perform Hajj, Umrah, and tourism In the present study, MSW characterization and energy recovery from MSW of Makkah was determined The average composition of solid waste in Makkah city is organic matter (48%), plastics (25%), paper and cardboard (20%), metals (4%), glass (2%), textiles (1%), and wood (1%) In order to evaluate energy recovery potential from solid waste in Kakia open dumpsite landfill, the Gas Generation Model (LandGEM) was used According to LandGEM results, landfill gas (methane and carbon dioxide) generation potential and capacity were determined Kakia open dump has a methane potential of 8352 m3 per ton of waste
24 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated households' waste collection in a Bolivian developing city with the aim to find a solution to foster waste safe disposal and recycling, and they implemented field analysis together with the use of geographic information systems and the life cycle assessment approach where the lack of data is challenging.
Abstract: Solid waste open dumping is a big issue in the developing world. Environmental and social impacts due to this practice affect population health, increasing the spread of diseases and child mortality. The safe collection of waste is the first step for reducing these impacts. This research assesses households’ waste collection in a Bolivian developing city with the aim to find a solution to fostering waste safe disposal and recycling. The novelty of the study consists in implementing field analysis together with the use of geographic information systems and the life cycle assessment approach where the lack of data is challenging. Following the results of the research, the system optimization, compared to the current scenario, implies that: (1) collection distances increase by 8%, while the selective collection increases them by 27.8%; (2) the collection coverage increase from 51% to 94% and selective collection switch from zero to 6.7%; (3) about 75% of CO2-eq emissions are reduced, as well as the eutrophication potential (about 55%); (4) recycling reduces the human toxicity potential of 260% and depletion of abiotic resources of 30%; (5) finally, the cost per ton of waste collected reduces from 36.2USD t−1 to 26.5USD t−1, and rises to 39.7USD t−1 if the selective collection is applied. The research demonstrates how waste collection optimization can be implemented obtaining enormous benefits in developing cities. The methods and outcomes presented can be of reference for policymakers and stakeholders of the developing world for addressing safe collection toward sustainable development.
22 citations
References
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Book•
12 Dec 2018
TL;DR: The What a Waste 20: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 as discussed by the authors aggregates extensive solid waste data at the national and urban levels and provides information on waste management costs, revenues, and tariffs; special wastes; regulations; public communication; administrative and operational models; and the informal sector
Abstract: By 2050, the world is expected to generate 340 billion tons of waste annually, increasing drastically from today’s 201 billion tons What a Waste 20: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 aggregates extensive solid waste data at the national and urban levels It estimates and projects waste generation to 2030 and 2050 Beyond the core data metrics from waste generation to disposal, the report provides information on waste management costs, revenues, and tariffs; special wastes; regulations; public communication; administrative and operational models; and the informal sector
1,937 citations
"Failing Services on Urban Waste Man..." refers background or methods in this paper
...Litter leads to blockage of drainage and choking of sewerage causing sewage water to flood the streets [1,2,10]....
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...Against this backdrop, it is bitter to learn that in lower income countries, still 61% of the population has to live without access to waste collection and 93% of all collected waste is disposed of in open and uncontrolled dumpsites [2]....
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...report that this percentage goes down when countries and cities develop [2], whereas other researchers report increasing percentages of un-serviced households for Nairobi and Dar es Salaam [44,45]....
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...Secondary effects are the emission of greenhouse gases [2], the runoff of waste with rainwater to 0 10 20 30 40 50...
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...Nonetheless, economic growth (EG) is a firm indicator of growth in WG [2]....
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Book•
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, a philosophy of science underlying engaged scholarship in a professional school has been discussed, and a theory of process and variance models has been proposed to solve the research problem.
Abstract: 1. Engaged Scholarship in a Professional School 2. Philosophy of Science Underlying Engaged Scholarship 3. Formulating the Research Problem 4. Building a Theory 5. Process and Variance Models 6. Designing Variance Studies 7. Designing Process Studies 8. Communicating and Using Research Knowledge 9. Practicing Engaged Scholarship
1,639 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a broad overview of the recent patterns and trends of urban growth in developing countries, and the challenges of achieving sustainable urban development will be particularly formidable in Africa.
1,549 citations
"Failing Services on Urban Waste Man..." refers background in this paper
...By 2030, 60% of the population of developing countries is expected to be urban [4,5]....
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TL;DR: This paper presents an integrated theory of how cities evolve, linking urban economics and transportation behavior to developments in network science, allometric growth, and fractal geometry, which provides new insights into the resource limits facing cities in terms of the meaning of density, compactness, and sprawl.
Abstract: Despite a century of effort, our understanding of how cities evolve is still woefully inadequate. Recent research, however, suggests that cities are complex systems that mainly grow from the bottom up, their size and shape following well-defined scaling laws that result from intense competition for space. An integrated theory of how cities evolve, linking urban economics and transportation behavior to developments in network science, allometric growth, and fractal geometry, is being slowly developed. This science provides new insights into the resource limits facing cities in terms of the meaning of density, compactness, and sprawl, and related questions of sustainability. It has the potential to enrich current approaches to city planning and replace traditional top-down strategies with realistic city plans that benefit all city dwellers.
1,144 citations
"Failing Services on Urban Waste Man..." refers background or methods in this paper
...Scaling investigates statistical relations between size, shape, and an array of urban variables making this method valuable for forecasting [35,36]....
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...Scaling investigates statistical relati ns betw en size, s ape, and an array of urba variabl s m king this method valuable for forecasti g [35,36]....
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TL;DR: All cities may evolve according to a small set of basic principles that operate locally, which are shown to be independent of city size and might be a useful means to evaluate urban planning strategies.
Abstract: Despite the increasing importance of cities in human societies, our ability to understand them scientifically and manage them in practice has remained limited. The greatest difficulties to any scientific approach to cities have resulted from their many interdependent facets, as social, economic, infrastructural, and spatial complex systems that exist in similar but changing forms over a huge range of scales. Here, I show how all cities may evolve according to a small set of basic principles that operate locally. A theoretical framework was developed to predict the average social, spatial, and infrastructural properties of cities as a set of scaling relations that apply to all urban systems. Confirmation of these predictions was observed for thousands of cities worldwide, from many urban systems at different levels of development. Measures of urban efficiency, capturing the balance between socioeconomic outputs and infrastructural costs, were shown to be independent of city size and might be a useful means to evaluate urban planning strategies.
1,130 citations
"Failing Services on Urban Waste Man..." refers background or methods in this paper
...Scaling investigates statistical relations between size, shape, and an array of urban variables making this method valuable for forecasting [35,36]....
[...]
...Scaling investigates statistical relati ns betw en size, s ape, and an array of urba variabl s m king this method valuable for forecasti g [35,36]....
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