2.6.1 Legislative Framework
Clause 36 of 1993 Constitution of Lesotho states that:
"Lesotho shall adopt policies designed to protect and enhance the natural cultural environment of Lesotho for the benefit of both present and future generations and shall endeavour to assure all citizens a sound and safe environment adequate for their health and well-being".
In order to fulfil the inter-generational responsibility reflected by the constitutional statement, the Government ofLesotho formulated an umbrella National Environmental Policy in 1996, which has put in place strategies for achieving sustainable development. The Policy addresses environmental issues relating to activities of different sectors of the country's economy. Waste as an important by-product of economic activities has also been included. In this regard, the relevant sections are Sections 4.17 and 4.18, which deal with management of toxic and hazardous waste, and sanitation waste respectively. The policy further proposes the formulation of waste management guidelines.
This calls for more data to be gathered to assist with this task. Although solid waste management is covered in this policy, Lesotho still requires specific policy on solid waste management. This signifies the need for more data and information on this subject of waste management, if this subject has to be covered adequately.
Prior to the formulation of the umbrella environmental policy, Witzsch (1990) indicated there was no general anti-litter law in Lesotho. As a result, people were throwing away waste outside their yards or plots, along roads or in illegal dumping sites. Provision for waste management has been made in a number of separate pieces oflegislation, regulation and by laws (Witzsch, 1990), e.g.
Sanitary Services and Refuse Removal Regulations, 1972 and Public Health Order, 1970, etc.
Furthennore, it is assumed that conflicts and inadequacies may exist within these pieces of legislation. These are examined further in Chapter 4.
2.6.2 Institutional Framework
In greater Maseru City, the refuse collection section of the Maseru City Council (MC C) serves the wards that fall within its jurisdiction. In order to "effectively" undertake this task, the City is divided into Central Business Development area (CBD) and industrial and residential areas. A skip service is offered to factories on demand 23. Coming to other Urban Centres in the country, they are being served by the Ministry of Local Government through the offices of Town Clerks.
However, even in these other urban Centres, difficulties are experienced with regards to solid waste collection and disposal, such as irregular and inefficient waste collection services and breaking down of waste collection vehicles, etc. One additional problem in solid waste management in Lesotho is the lack of clearly defined roles of responsibility over waste management. There is no a designated Ministry, Department or Institution responsible for waste management. Although NES plays a coordinating role, the other institutions such as W ASA, MCC, Department of Water Affairs (DWA), and Department of Environmental Health in the Ministry of Health all have roles in activities of waste management, without specific roles. This leads to lack of focus on waste management issues. The solution lies in an introduction of integrated waste management system.
As stated above, the National Environment Secretariat (NES) co-ordinates the waste management issues through the Committee on Waste Management (COWMAN). The membership of COWMAN (see Appendix A.3) has been drawn from diverse background.
Government institutions, parastatals such as National University of Lesotho (NUL), Non- Governmental Organisations, such as LCN, and the private sector, such as Welcome Waste Company. Its mandate is to assist the government in the management and disposal of waste in an environmentally friendly manner and as a forum for exchange of information and experiences relating to waste. The Committee however has no legal status and only plays an advisory role.
There is a significant indication, however, that the Government ofLesotho has strived to address these problems. Some of the good examples ofgovernment's efforts are indicated Section 2.4.3 of this Chapter.
23 The Director per. Comm., (2001). Department of Environmental Health, Maseru City Council, Maseru, Lesotho.
2.6.3 Previous Studies on Solid Waste Management in Lesotho
In 1990, it was documented that there had never been a survey done to establish the waste generation rate in Maseru and Maputsoe (WHO, 1990). This report further re-iterated that there was only a small amount of data available on the composition of solid waste in those two towns and recommended a detailed study. Attempt was further made to establish waste generation rates in several towns in Lesotho (NZA Associates, 1987; Otieno, 1995; Mhlanga & GuWat, 1997).
The latter tried to establish trends in solid waste management in Lesotho. However, these studies relied on estimates from population figures and due to the time factor, detailed solid waste characterization classification was not done. Certain participants and stakeholders such as scavengers, institutions, and commercial establishments were either omitted or not fully covered.
Another synopsis study of importance on this subject is by Seholoholo (1998) on waste management in one low-income and one high-income residential area in Maseru.
Having examined waste management at global, regional and local level, a general picture emerges on how waste is managed at different levels of development. In developing countries, community- based approach of solid waste management functions as a useful method of waste management.
The concept on how entrepreneurship and micro-enterprises could be developed around solid waste management has already been further elaborated on in Section 2.4.
2.6.4 Waste Management in Maserul Maputsoe (Lesotho).
According to Mhlanga and Gulilat (1997), the RSA is estimated to generate 466 million tonnes of waste per annum. However, 81% of this comes from mining. The equivalent of what was considered in their study (industrial, domestic and trade sectors, generate 8% or 37 million tonnes per annum A comparison of waste generation in these two sectors for Lesotho and the RSA is shown on Table 2.4. It can be seen that while Lesotho generates 0.43 tonnes per capita per annum of industrial, trade and domestic waste; the RSA generates 0.88 tonnes per capita per annum.
However, while the industrial sector in the RSA is the most important source amongst these three sectors, in Lesotho it is the commercial sector that contributes the largest share, as shown in Section 4.6.10fthis thesis.
Table 2.4 Comparison of Annual Waste Generation 24: Lesotho and the RSA
Item Lesotho RSA
Total Waste Generated ~er year (tonnes) 802,390 37,000,000 Total population (1996) 25 1,861,225 41,977,904 Annual waste generated per capita (tonnes) 0.43# 0.88 #
Sources: Consultants' estimates, Bureau of Statistics, and South African Year book, 1996.
# These values include those from households, industrial and commercial establishments. They may seem to be on the higher side when considered only in terms of household level and population of the people.
2.6.5 The External Market.
It was also observed by Mhlanga and Gulilat (1997), that the external market absorbs the bulk of waste items that are recovered by the informal sector in Lesotho. This market is dominated by a few refuse collection agents which have established extensive commercial links with giant RSA companies, such as ISCOR, Consol Glass and Metal Box Glass, Rondo Plastics, Mondi /SAPPI Paper Waste Recycling, Durban Steel and Durban Textile industry. The major external markets for waste are located in the Gauteng and KwaZululNatal Province of the RSA (in the Johannesburg and Durban Metropolis). This makes the waste industry in Lesotho very transport sensitive. Hence, there is a need to integrate transport services with waste trading in order to maximize the haulage. The need to minimize transport cost also forces the agents to undertake preliminary stages of the recycling process, namely: sorting, shredding, compaction or pressing and bailing. This also helps to increase the value of the waste items. Another external market is Japan, which also gets Lesotho's external market share through the purchase of scrap metal.
24 Only industrial, trade and domestic waste was considered, including scrap metal from discarded vehicles.
25 For Lesotho, estimates based upon preliminary results ofthe 1996 Population Census, while for RSA, an estimate using a unified growth rate of2.08%.
2.7 PROBLEM STATEMENT ON SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AND