Waste Management in Municipalities of Developing Countries

One of the assertions made by the UN during the Rio Earth summit in 1992 was that, the best starting point for achieving sustainable development is at the local level. The Local Agenda 21 (LA21) clearly places municipal authorities at the center of the quest for a better society through facilitating good socio-economic and environmental management practices. However, for most municipal governments particularly in the southern countries, environmental issues such as municipal solid waste, water and waste water, air and soil pollution, are a crucial challenge towards their achieving sustainable development; and due to the complexity of these issues, strategies to manage them outweigh the capacity at their disposal. Despite its crucial relevance, solid waste management in most cities and municipalities of developing countries is highly unsatisfactory, characterized by poor handling due to certain perceived social, economic and political factors which ultimately exacerbates threats to public health and environmental hazards from contamination as well as deterioration of the locality and other dangers affecting the existence of citizens and business activities in cities of developing countries.

Through our research and consultancy services we provide cost-effective solutions and strategies that typify an integrative approach to municipal solid waste management spanning from source segregation to sustainable re-use.