while bicycles would be more efficient over medium distances where there arc paved roads and only small gradient, and animal carts can operate over an even ground. Tractors and trailers are efficient at distances up to 5 km. Trucks are efficient over 5 km distances. Therefore, a combination of some ofthese means would be essential in certain cases. In all, optimum primary collection system will be determined by widths, surfaces and traffic conditions of the roads and streets and the haulage distances.
Since community-based solid waste management promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship, it would be worthwhile to examine some success stories on the continent and in the region.
2.5 COMMUNITY - BASED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN AFRICA: LESSONS
inefficient waste management systems and insufficient sanitation and social services were principal causes of the growth of incidence of diseases in the city (Gilbert et al. 1996). However, the situation changed in 1995 when a new comprehensive community participatory waste management system was introduced. This system employed over 1,000 unemployed youths and local communities were involved. In this scenario, the Economic Interest Groups (EIGs) comprising only locals were responsible for street cleaning, garbage bins, gathering garbage from inaccessible areas and community education on waste management. This innovative approach eliminated the waste management monopoly by the Local Authority, and created employment for the low-income residents.
Lagos has been known for its notoriety of images of violent robberies and reeking mounds of rubbish. Streets had mountains of rubbish piled up along pavements (BBC Magazine, 200 I). It is an extraordinary transformation to change from heaps of rubbish on the streets to clean streets, especially since cleaning up the litter-strewn streets of Lagos was regarded as an impossible task.
Lagos boasts often million inhabitants. Faced with catastrophic picture of garbage crisis, it has taken only within a short space of one year (2000-2001) to prove pessimists wrong. Clean-up in this city has added new freshness to the air.
The solution to the problem of waste in Lagos lay in community involvement. The State Government sought the assistance of the private sector to tackle its solid waste management problems. The method followed by this solid management process to score success was as follows: under the auspices ofthe Lagos State Waste Management Authority, the Government hired thc famous privatc sector participation (PSP) operators. Lagos was divided up into small manageable units and allocated to individual PSP operators who made agreements with communities on how much to pay for services. As its contribution, the State Government handed out free black bags. Waste collection/drop-off satellite stations were introduced. It has further been pointed out that this had another adverse impact on the landfill. It failed to cope with a new scenario of more waste collected. This resulted in air at dumpsites being filled with smoke and a pungent smell of decay. Everyday, except Sunday, there were armies of cleaners aeross the city dressed in protective clothing insignia the "High-way Managers". This has not only kept the streets of Lagos clean, but also created jobs. Over four thousand people have been employed.
Those employed included graduates from Technikons (Polytechnics) who now serve as supervisors for the waste harvesters.
Closer to home (Lesotho), Botswana in the SADC Region has scored a relative success story by putting in place sustainable solid waste management systems. As reported in the Daily News (8 June 1993), Botswana realized that solid waste management was a serious issue, which was not to
be treated lightly. The results of this realization are that through a GTZ project, Botswana has formulated legal instruments (an Act of Parliament) to specifically address waste management
problems. In addition, the components of case studies for re-use and recycle have been carried out with a view to create jobs.
Another story that relates to waste management problems caused by lack of integrated waste
management systems is about the city of Nairobi, Kenya. It has been reported that the city of Nairobi, once lauded as the "Green City in the Sun", is now described by columnists as the
"Stinking City in the Garbage". The situation has been caused by garbage from the lower side of the dumpsite flowing into Nairobi's main river, creating yet another potential environmental
disaster. In this case, the major cause of this problem is the Local government's failure to incorporate garbage disposal into their long- term plans, which overlooked the community-based waste management systems (BBC Magazine, 2001).
These two scenarios set a good platform for this study. They illustrate the point that the issues of
community-based solid waste management should not be overlooked. This point should be the central theme in the study and the discussion in relation to the city of Durban in South Africa.
2.5.1 Waste Management in South Africa -Community-Based Activities
Furthermore, in South Africa, there has been a paradigm shift among officials to accept bottom-up
approaches. This has resulted in more community -based waste management programmes. For example, the community of Stswetla in Alexandra Township in the out-skirts of Johannesburg,
demonstrated this principle. In this project, which was supported by the South African Breweries and Public Works Department, 40 communities nationally, in nine provinces benefited, in which 167,000 families experienced a clean and green environment, and 700 jobs were created.
(Mhlanga & Gulilat, 1997). This project is commonly known as Clean and Green Campaign.
South Africa has intensified the activity ofwaste management with a view to generating jobs. For example, mapping of buy-back centers at national level has been done, as shown in Map 2.1. In addition, mapping is done for the location of waste collectors at national level and of the distribution of recyclers, as shown in Maps 2.2 and 2.3 respectively. In addition, at national level, waste management strategies and guidelines have been developed - a clear demonstration of commitment to the issues of waste management.
The relevance of these points raised is to emphasize the commitment from the Government concerning the issues ofintegrated waste management, and the role the Government has played as a catalyst to create an environment for the waste harvesters to take part in the waste management activities. Thus, jobs are created. Without the development of these buy-back centers and mapping the location of waste role players, South Africa would not have scored such success, as recorded in this Section 2.5.2 concerning Durban City.
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Durban Metropolitan City in South Africa has achieved a great deal in the area of solid waste management in relation to job creation as evidenced in the paragraphs that follow below. This does not imply that South Africa has eliminated solid waste management problems. Nevertheless, it is evidence enough that tremendous efforts have been made in the area of community-based waste management, as indicated by examples highlighted in the forthcoming paragraphs.
It has been documented as a report on Trash Culture-South Africa, that: "old habits die hard"
(BBC Magazine, 200 I). In this issue, it has been re-asserted that people dumped randomly on roadsides and that litter was tossed carelessly onto the streets by pedestrians and motorists.
However, the statement was further qualified that the battle against waste littering was not lost.
Across South Africa, people have been transforming rubbish into works of art and it has become an increasingly lucrative business. Central to these success stories in South Africa is the City of Durban. The success story starts in the backyard of the Siyanda squatter settlement in Durban and ends up in a metropolitan Museums of Art in New York and London, earning income in foreign exchange, which the country desperately needs. In this example of good waste management practice, the Zulu telephone wire weavers have dipped into their cultural heritage, applied it to discarded telephone wire, and transformed it into high art, i.e. value addition to what would have been meant for the waste dumpsite. In addition, the discarded beverage cans have been turned into lampshade and waste paper into waste paper baskets to sell to tourists in search of something
"South African""
These facts show that Durban, a steamy Indian Ocean port serves as a magnet for the rural poor, who cluster in fragile shacks on the fringes of the more established townships surrounding the City. Siyanda, meaning: "We are moving forward" in Zulu is one of such informal settlements, in which, out of the telephone wire waste art, gave birth to the Bartell Arts Trust shop in Durban which in turn exports the artworks to art galleries and shops in New York and London. Products range from hand-made books, greetings cards and paper, along with all the aluminum and metal products. Thus South Africans, especially Durbanites, are adopting an innovative approach to the debris (waste) that surrounds them in their daily lives. In turn, they help their country to reduce its vast piles of rubbish, and generate foreign exchange and much needed employment for the poor.
The success story for Durban does not only end at Siyanda, it goes on. It has also been documented by Kgaogelo and Otieno (1999) that in South Africa the phenomenon of squatting
are prevalent among black people. Ofthe entire country, Durban has carried the major part of the increase in informal housing and contains the greatest part of freestanding informal settlements (Cross et a1.1997). Informal settlement areas are characterized by poor and unhealthy housing, with a low standard of living. Residents also experience poverty and inadequacy or in- accessibility of services such as water, electricity, sewerage, sanitation as well as refuse collection system to meet their basic needs (Muller, 1991; Moyo et al. 1993). Inadequacy in the provision of
services or lack of domestic waste management at informal settlements contributes mainly to the accumulation of massive piles of waste. However, despite these hurdles, the Durban Metropolitan
City has striven to counter-act the problems of waste management. The success Durban city to generate jobs supersedes the cited inadequacies of informal settlements.
For example, several studies on community-based solid waste management have been carried out in Durban area. Of importance are the studies on "Management Strategies for Domestic waste in Bester Informal Settlement", by Kgaogelo and Otieno (1999); on "Creating Employment Opportunities through Buyback Centres: a pilot study in Central Durban", by Mclean, (1999); and
"Domestic Recycling in the Greater Durban Metropolitan Area, Durban", by Mclean, (1999). In the former, the Researchers found that, within a short time, the Bester community of about 9776
inhabitants had established a recycling process with 26 participants. In the latter, the researcher found that the Buyback Centres created job opportunities and that most of the scavengers frequenting this market were earning about Ml 0 20 per day, some even up to M40 21 per day. In addition, the other study by the same researcher on domestic recycling in the greater Durban Metropolitan revealed that there were several reasons why communities preferred recycling activities.
20&211n this case, one South African Rand (R) is equal to one Lesotho Maluti (M)
In her study, Mclean found out that the recycling activities in the middle-income households of Glenwood, put forth environmental concerns as a factor for recycling; while the low-income households of Urnlazi put forth job creation and income generation as the important consideration. This is evidence enough of how much the Durban area has done in solid waste management through the community-based approach.
To crown it all, Durban is one of the very few cities in Africa, even in the world, which have produced a Local Agenda 21 and the "State of Environment Report' for the city. In this case, the Local agenda 21 has even reached the pilot study of phase 3. This is not the only achievement: it has also established the location of green cages within local Durban, as shown in Map 2.4. In addition, there is a proposed location for a recycling plant of plastics in an area with highest unemployment in Durban (see Map 2.5).
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