Sustainable waste management

in developing countries – Part A

David C Wilson

Independent Waste & Resource

Management Consultant

Visiting Professor, Imperial College

DFID – 22 February 2016

Scope & learning objectives

PART A – The SWM problem

1. Why is SWM important?

- What are the drivers?

2. Current status and trends

3. Importance of integrated

sustainable waste management

- Governance factors

4. World Bank perspective

PART B – Alternative solutions

5. Some local/innovative approaches

6. Making the case for action &

Reflections on success factors

Photos: Kaine Chinwah John R Holmes

1. WHY IS SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

IMPORTANT?

What are the drivers?

Photo credits: © Jeroen Ijgosse; Erica Trauba; David C Wilson

Burning uncollected waste,

Venezuela

Waste blocking

a storm drain,

Bamako, Mali

Large city dumpsite fronting the

Indian ocean, Dar-es-Salaam

GWMO • ‘To develop a global outlook

of challenges, trends and policies in relation to waste prevention, minimization and management … to provide guidance for national policy planning’

• Published September 2015

• Editor-in-Chief: DCW

• Weblink: http://www.unep.org/ietc/InformationResou

rces/Events/GlobalWasteManagementOutlo

okGWMO/tabid/106373/Default.aspx

Solid Waste Management (SWM) –

an essential utility service

November

2010

until things go wrong

http://www.france24.com/en/20101129-

naples-piles-garbage-gone-christmas-mayor

http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b

4f088/id/699335/cs/1/

Naples

Taken for granted …….

1st driver: Public Health: Uncollected waste

as a serious public health issue

Today: Dengue fever clean-up

campaign, Quezon City

Photo credits: © Science Museum, SWAPP

1. A cause of infectious diseases

19th Century: Cholera in

Europe from the 1830s

1st driver: Public Health – Focus on Collection

Waste

dumped in

a stream,

Nairobi

2: Blocking drains

• Breeding grounds

• Causes flooding Waste blocking

a storm drain,

Bamako, Mali

Market,

Lagos,

Nigeria

Photo credits clockwise from top left: © Jeroen Ijgosse; Erica Trauba; John Holmes

3: Increased incidence of

sickness among children

living in households without

a waste collection service

Data from Demographic and

Health surveys:

o Diarrhoea – rate x 2 or more

o Acute respiratory infections –

rate x 6

Photos in Nigeria: John Holmes,

Kaine Chinwah, IC

Source: UN-Habitat, State of the World’s

Cities, 2008-09. Page 129

1st driver: Public Health – Focus on Collection

Burning uncollected waste, Venezuela

Roadside dump alongside

houses, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

2nd driver:

Pollution &

environmental

degradation – Targeting open

dumping and

burning

Top: On Nooch,

Bangkok, 1983

Bottom: Jam Chakro,

Karachi, 2001

Photos: David C Wilson

Jonathan Rouse

Water pollution from leachate

Photo: Guadalajara, Mexico, 2009. Gerardo Bernache

Air pollution from open burning

– and disposal of hazardous wastes

Photo: Istanbul, 1993; David C Wilson

Engineering Problems: slope stability

The 10 July 2000 Payatas Dumpsite Failure

Photo: E. Kavazanjian and S.M. Merry, 2005

Shenzhen landslip

at Liu Xi

Industrial Park

20 December 2015

Photos: ChinaFotoPress /

Getty Images (top);

Tyrone Siu / Reuters (left)

• 100 m hill of C&D

(construction &

demolition) waste

• 38 hectares covered

• 33 buildings buried

• 100+ dead

Public health

impacts of

uncollected waste

Gastrointestinal and

respiratory infections,

particularly in children

Blocked drains

aggravate floods and

spread infectious disease

The public health & environmental drivers

Environmental

impacts

of open dumping

and burning

Severe land pollution

and freshwater,

groundwater and sea

pollution

Local air pollution and

climate change

High Moon

Source:

GWMO

The costs of inaction

➢ Health care

➢ Lost productivity

➢ Flood damage

➢ Damage to

business & tourism

➢ Clean-up costs

Costs to society exceed

the financial costs per

capita of proper waste

management by a

factor of 5-10

High Moon

Data are scarce

But evidence is

clear

Need to act NOW,

rather than

waiting for ever

for perfect

information

Source: GWMO

3rd driver: Resource

value of the waste

• A key component of

any solution

Photos clockwise from top left: Rotterdam; Varna,

Bulgaria; Sukkur, Pakistan; Columbia; Dar-es-

Salaam, Tanzania

Photo credits: City of Rotterdam; Kossara Bozhilova-Kisheva; Mansoor

Ali; Martin Medina; David C Wilson

1020 1850 1970 1990 2000

Resource

value

Public Health

- collection

Local environment

- treatment & disposal

2010 2020

Waste Management Drivers : 1020-2020

© DCW

~1970: a new

driver kicks in

1020 1850 1970 1990 2000

Resource

value

Public Health

- collection

Global environment

- climate change

Local environment

- treatment & disposal

2010

Resource

management

Rediscover

recycling

2020

Recent drivers

in the ‘North’

Waste Management Drivers : 1020-2020

© DCW

Example: between 1990-2006,

changes in Germany’s waste

sector reduced the country’s

total GHG emissions by 5%*

Climate change mitigation – a major driver for

improving waste management in Europe

Landfill is a major

source of methane, a

powerful greenhouse

gas (GHG)

Working since 1970s to

reduce methane

emissions and to divert

waste from landfill

* Source: Dehoust et al, 2010: http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/climate-protection-potential-in-waste-management

Photo: UK, 1970s. Harwell Laboratory

IPCC estimate for waste sector is very low

Also omits emissions

from other sectors

displaced by reuse,

recycling, composting

and biogenic energy

recovery

IPCC estimated 2010

direct contribution of

waste sector to GHG

emissions at 3%

Photos. Top row: Adelaide, Zero Waste South Australia. Bottom: Vienna, Joanna Wilson

More than 50% of 2010

World waste generation

came from the ‘old’ OECD

countries, who had been

working to mitigate

emissions since the 1970s But this is a gross

under-estimate ….

Example LCA estimate of contribution of

waste management to GHG mitigation*

Example countries

analysed:

Germany, EU-27

Turkey, Tunisia, Mexico

Results: potential

reduction in GHG

emissions from improved

SWM: 10-15%

* Source: Dehoust et al, 2010

Scope: Landfill mitigation & diversion Recycling Waste-to-energy

Graphics and photos (from left): KfW, Lusaka City

Council, Zero Waste South Australia, KfW

FAO estimate:

1.3 billion tonnes per year of edible

food waste

This estimate still excludes waste prevention

Example of

food waste

Prevention could reduce total worldwide GHG

emissions by 9%

Source: FAO Photo: Food bank, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; © SLU

GWMO’s overall estimate

Potential impact of

improved waste and resource management on reducing

GHG emissions across the economy: 15-20%

Recycling

Photos (clockwise from top left): Lusaka City Council, Zero Waste South Australia, KfW, SLU

Landfill mitigation & diversion

Waste-to-energy

Waste prevention

Three key drivers in a

developing country

Photo credits: clockwise from top left - Delhi, Enrico Fabian; Nepal, Bhusan Tuladhar; Nairobi, UN-Habitat; Lusaka City Council/ Jan G Tesink

1. Public health

2. Environment

3. Resource value D.C. Wilson (2007) . Development drivers for waste

management. Waste Management & Research 25: 198–207

2. CURRENT STATUS AND TRENDS

Photo credits: © Jeroen Ijgosse; David C Wilson;, Mansoor Ali

CBO collection in

Ouagadougou, Burkina

Faso

Modern landfill in

Hong Kong

Selling recycled bottles,

Dhaka

Worldwide waste generation

Worldwide quantities increasing

2 billion tonnes per year of

municipal solid waste

7-10 billion tonnes of ‘urban’

solid waste from households,

commerce, industry and construction

Photos: Natalia Reyna; UN-Habitat Source: GWMO

Municipal solid waste per capita

increases with income level

Developed countries • Per capita rates doubled

1970-2000 • Stabilised since 2005

Developing countries • Per capita rate will

continue to rise as economies develop

Latest available data for 82 countries (generally

2010)

For details, see

GWMO

Figure 3.2

Waste trends in low income cities

➢ Populations continue to grow

➢ Migration from rural to urban areas continue

➢ Number and size of cities increase

➢ Waste per capita rising as economies grow

City population data taken from World Urbanization Prospects, 2014 edition

Source: GWMO

Waste quantities in low income country

cities will continue to grow fast Kinshasha, DR Congo

Photos from the web. Top: http://globalrec.org/wp-

content/uploads/2013/02/congo-recuperateurs.jpg

Bottom: http://www.occidentaldissent.com/wp-

content/uploads/2012/02/kin-la-poubelle.jpg

Year Population

(m)

Waste

(TPD)

1990 <4 1,600

2014 11 5,500

2030 20 12,000

Many African and Asian cities

will DOUBLE waste generation

within 15-20 years

Changing the balance of waste generation

• 2012 baseline: 50%

of World MSW in

high income &

OECD countries

• Waste in other regions

increasing rapidly

• Globalisation also

shifting industrial and

hazardous waste

generation to

developing countries

Source: Hoornweg et al., 2015 - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/jiec.12165/

Public health – collection coverage World Bank website and 1990s baseline:

Commonly only 50% in low & middle income countries

Some developing country cities have

made significant progress

2 billion people

without access to solid waste collection

GWMO Figure 3.9. Data is for 36 Wasteaware cities. Wide variations within

cities. Smaller towns / rural areas make national averages lower

Range of approaches to disposal State-of-the-art

Landfill construction in Lusaka Cows grazing by illegal dump in Bamako

Simple control

Incinerator construction in Kunming, viewed from the landfill

No

control

Payatas site, Quezon City

Photo credits clockwise from top left: © Ljiljana Rodic; SWAPP; Erica Trauba; Lusaka City Council/ Jan G Tesink

Environment – controlled disposal

World bank website and 1990s baseline:

Open dumping still dominant in middle & low-income countries

Controlled disposal rates often 0%

Some developing country cities have

made significant progress

3 billion people

without access to controlled disposal

facilities GWMO Figure 3.10. Data is for 39 Wasteaware cities

Situation likely to be much less positive outside the main cities

50 biggest dumpsites in the World

http://d-waste.com/reports/2nd-annual-report-of-waste-atlas-detail.html#.VPWhuixIn6o

https://www.iswa.org/fileadmin/galleries/Task_Forces/THE_TRAGIC_CASE_OF_DUMPSITES.pdf

Receive 22 million tonnes per year 300 million tonnes in place

64 million people living within 10 km 50,000 pickers

Significant adverse health impacts

Source: Waste Atlas consortium

2014 crowd sourced survey

Resource value – 3Rs – recycling rates

Figure 3.11 from the GWMO, 2015. Data sources: Scheinberg A, Wilson D.C. and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste Management in the World’s

Cities. Published for UN-Habitat by Earthscan, London; later work-in-progress beyond the original 20 cities, generally 2012 data from 36 cities.

• Rates now highest in the high-income countries, but …

• Some evidence of a decrease in recycling rates in mid-range countries

• No clear trend

with income

level

• A lot of scatter

within income

bands

What needs to be done?

Stop

uncontrolled

dumping

and burning

Focus

on the

‘feedback

loops’

Focus

on

waste

prevention

Bring

hazardous

wastes

under control

Ensure access for

all to basic waste

services

Deal with the

hazardous

substances in

wastes

Tackle the

problem

at the source

Close a clean

material cycle

Bring wastes under control

Move from a linear to a circular economy

Source:

GWMO

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

3. IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRATED

SUSTAINABLE WASTE

MANAGEMENT

Photo credits: Alodia Ishengoda, 2009

Moshi, Tanzania

Integrated and sustainable waste management

(ISWM)

Source: original by WASTE; this

version by SANDEC

For further information: www.waste.nl

Analytical Framework

Our ‘lens’: a simplified version of ISWM

Concept: Scheinberg A, Wilson D.C. and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities. UN-Habitat

Physical

1. Public health –

Collection 4. Inclusivity

5. Financial

Sustainability

3. Resource

value

3Rs – Reduce,

Reuse, Recycle

6. Sound

Institutions

& Pro-active

Policies

Governance 2. Environment

– Disposal

© David Wilson

Ljiljana Rodic

Costas Velis Indicators developed for each element

Good governance – partnering with ALL

stakeholders in an ISWM system

Municipality

Service users

State Agencies

Neighbouring municipalities

Private service

providers

Informal sector

Producer responsibility organisations

NGOs / CBOs

Development partners

Inclusivity: Focus in Particular on Users &

Service Providers

Municipality

Service users

State Agencies

Neighbouring municipalities

Private service

providers

Informal sector

Producer responsibility organisations

NGOs / CBOs

Development partners

Achieving user inclusivity

Citizens Committee

At Barangay level in

Quezon City, Philippines

Participative planning

Catia La Mar, Venezuela

Photos: SWAPP; Jeroen IJgosse

Provider Inclusivity Categorisation of service providers across 134 case

studies analysed in a recent study for GIZ

99

5

1 74

33

35

53 29

Key result: average of 2.5 different operator models per city

Source: David C Wilson and Jennifer Kanjogera

Collection

Photo credits clockwise from top left: © WASTE; Erica Trauba; Justin Lang, Zero Waste South Australia; Curepipe Municipality; Ljiljana Rodic

Some examples

of diversity in

service

provision

Door-to-door informal collector, India

Curepipe, Mauritius Adelaide, Australia Bicycle cart delivering to small transfer station in Kunming

CBO collection in Bamako, Mali

Modernisation does not necessarily mean motorisation

Making Public-Private Participation Work Municipality retains responsibility but delegates service delivery

Competition

Sources: Guidance Pack for Private Sector Participation in MSW,

Cointreau/Coad, SKAT, 2000 ISBN 3-908001-90-0

A. Coad. Private Sector Involvement in Solid Wastee Management -

Avoiding Problems and Building on Successes. CWG Publications

Series No 2, 2005. www..cwg.net.net

Transparency

Need a balanced partnership Reasonable terms of performance

Adequate contract duration

Regular & punctual payments

Build local capacity including the

‘informal’ sector and CBOs

Resource value – 3Rs – recycling rates

Source: Margaux Fargier, Imperial College UG4 thesis/ research paper, 2015

• Relatively high recycling rates in developing countries

• Most of this comes from the ‘informal sector’

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

To

tal

recy

clin

g r

ate

(%)

% of total waste recovered by informal sector % of total waste recovered by formal sector

Categories of Informal Recycling

© DCW

Keep or

delete?

Contribution of informal recycling sector

• Systems entirely private sector,

financed only from sale of recyclates

• Modern formal recycling systems

have been rebuilt by municipalities

as ‘sinks’ – cost money but cheaper

than landfill or waste-to-energy

• Reduce public sector costs – by

millions of $/year in a large city

• Professional waste workers in the

informal sector are just one

partner group, but they are often

not recognised as such by the

municipality Port Harcourt, 2006

(Photo: Kaine Chinwah)

Dar-es-Salaam, 2003 (Photo: DCW)

How many professional waste workers

in the community / informal sector?

City % of total

population

Bengaluru 0.5%

Belo Horizonte 0.0%

Canete 0.4%

Delhi 1.3%

Dhaka 1.7%

Ghorahi 0.1%

Lusaka 0.0%

Managua 0.3%

Quezon City 0.5%

Sousse 0.1%

Average 0.5%

Total workers in 10 cities 350,000

Source: Scheinberg A, Wilson D.C.

and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste

Management in the World’s Cities.

Published for UN-Habitat by

Earthscan, London

Global estimate:

15-20 million

A major

employment

opportunity

‘Working conditions are

unacceptable’ • Yes, but why are their working

conditions so dirty?

• Most sorting is in mixed waste

• Hand sorting is common in

high income countries

• Key: separate organics from

dry recyclables at source

• At a stroke, improve working

conditions for the recyclers

AND improve their livelihoods

• Separation at source already

takes place – itinerant

waste buyers (IWBs) Clockwise from top: Delhi,

India: Lichfield, UK; Siddhipur,

Nepal; Sukkur, Pakistan

Photo credits: Enrico Fabian, Lichfield DC,

Bhushan Tuladhar, Mansoor Ali

‘Informal sector means ‘black economy’’

Completely uncontrolled

activities

Legal and tax-paying

formal organisations

• Not necessarily…

• The terminology is confusing

• A continuum / wide spectrum

• My pragmatic definition: ‘not the

formal sector’ - including a range of

intermediate options as the informal &

formal sectors find ways to work together

Would prefer a

different term,

but …

Brazil

Photo credits:

© SLU, Enrico Fabian

Financial sustainability - affordability

Income Level City SW

budget per

capita

City SW budget per capita

as % of

GDP per capita

range average

High $75 -100+ 0.03 - 0.40% 0.13 - 0.17%

Upper-middle $33 0.14 - 1.19% 0.6%

Lower-middle $10 0.40 - 1.22% 0.7%

Low $1- 4 0.14 – 0.52% 0.3 - 0.9%

Note: Based on 16 out of the original 20 cities – some corrections made using other data to allow for small sample size

Data source: Scheinberg A, Wilson D.C. and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities.

Affordability is a key constraint in the lower income countries

• Fees 0.3-0.6% (< 1%) of household income

Key findings on waste financing

Proper waste management

makes economic sense but still has a financial cost:

➢ Affordability is a major challenge in developing

countries

➢ Even the poorest will pay something when they can

see the benefits of a clean and healthy community

➢ Full cost recovery is more affordable as income

levels rise

➢ Raising finance for investment in

modern facilities continues to be a

challenge in all countries

From GWMO

Even the poorest will pay something when

they can see the benefits

Raising awareness

amongst citizens to

pay for waste

collection goes

hand in hand with

collection service

improvement

Maputo,

Mozambique

Photo: Joachim Stretz

- which is generally for primary collection, to create a clean

and healthy community & improve life for their children

Proactive policy & sound institutions No Criterion No Criterion

6N - Adequacy of national framework

for SWM

6L - Degree of local institutional

coherence

6N.1 Legislation and regulations 6L.1 Organisational structure

6N.2 Strategy/ Policy 6L.2 Institutional capacity

6N.3 Guidelines and implementation

procedures 6L.3 City-wide SWM strategy & plan

6N.4 National institution responsible for

implementing SWM policy 6L.4

Availability and quality of

SWM data

6N.5 Regulatory control 6L.5 Management, control and

supervision of service delivery

6N.6 Extended producer responsibility

(EPR) or Product Stewardship (PS) 6L.6

Inter-municipal (or regional) co-

operation

Wilson et al., Waste Management 35 (2015) 329–342: doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2014.10.006

Sound Institutions, Proactive Policies Institutional roles in a SWM system

Figure © GIZ

- RWA - ERM Concept: Wilson, D., Whiteman, A. & Tormin, A. (2001) Strategic Planning Guide for Municipal SWM.

Washington D.C.: World Bank, www.worldbank.org/urban/solid_wm/erm/start_up.pdf

If you don’t measure it,

you can’t manage it

e.g. always weigh waste

Kunming – weighbridge at incinerator

analyse waste composition

Photo credits: © Ljiljana Rodic; Joachim Stretz

GIZ project in Mozambique

Need reliable and timely data

‘Wasteaware’ ISWM benchmark indicators

‘Wasteaware’ ISWM Benchmark Indicators

Worked Example: Maputo, Mozambique A: Basic quantitative data

No Category Indicator Results

Background information on the city

G1 Country income

level

World Bank income category Low

GNI per capita $470

G2 Population of city Total population of the city 1,131,149

G3 Waste generation MSW generation (tonnes/year) 508,000

Key Waste-related data

W1 Waste per capita MSW per capita (kg per year) 316

W2 Composition: 4 key fractions – as % wt. of waste generated

W2.1 Organic Food and green wastes 65%

W2.2 Paper Paper 8.5%

W2.3 Plastics Plastics 8.0%

W2.4 Metals Metals 2.5%

Wilson et al., Waste Management 35 (2015) 329–342: doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2014.10.006

‘Wasteaware’ ISWM Benchmark Indicators

Worked Example: Maputo, Mozambique

B: Physical indicators No Category Indicator Results

1 Public health –

Waste collection

Collection coverage 82%

1C Quality of waste

collection service M/H

2 Environmental

control – waste

treatment and

disposal

Controlled disposal 0%

2E

Environmental quality

of waste treatment and

disposal

L/M

3 3Rs – reduce, reuse

and recycling

Recycling rate < 5%

3R Quality of 3Rs

provision L/M

Wilson et al., Waste Management 35 (2015) 329–342: doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2014.10.006

‘Wasteaware’ ISWM Benchmark Indicators

Worked Example: Maputo, Mozambique C: Governance indicators

No Category Indicator Results

4U User inclusivity Degree of user

inclusivity M

4P Provider

inclusivity

Degree of provider

inclusivity M/H

5F Financial

sustainability

Financial

sustainability M/H

6N Sound

institutions,

proactive

policies

Adequacy of national

SWM framework L/M

6L Degree of institutional

coherence M

Wilson et al., Waste Management 35 (2015) 329–342: doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2014.10.006

How to do it?

Proactive

policies

and

Sound

institutions

Data

revolution

Responsibilities

and

Partnerships

Money

matters

Source: GWMO

Stop

uncontrolled

dumping

and burning

Focus

on the

‘feedback

loops’

Focus

on

waste

prevention

Bring

hazardous

wastes

under control

What to do?

Waste management links to good governance

A clean city is a successful city

A healthy, pleasant and safe place to live

A good place to do business and visit as a tourist

Fosters a sense of community and belonging

Requires good governance

DFID prepared a paper for 2001 UN-Habitat world congress making

the case for using the cleanliness of a city & the effectiveness of its

SWM system as a proxy indicator for good governance*

* Online: http://davidcwilson.com/project/waste-management-an-indicator-of-urban-governance/

PART A - The SWM problem

1. Why is SWM important?

- What are the drivers?

2. Current status and trends

3. Importance of integrated

sustainable waste management

- Governance factors

4. World Bank perspective

Discussion on Part A

PART B – Alternative Solutions

www.davidcwilson.com

waste@davidcwilson.com

d.c.wilson@imperial.ac.uk