The maiden edition of the International Day of Zero Waste was observed on 30th March 2023. This was following the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s resolution at its 77th session held on 14th December 2022, to mark this day annually. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) are tasked with jointly facilitating the observance of the International Day of Zero Waste.
Some of the important aims of the International Day of Zero Waste are to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns, encourage a societal shift towards the circular economy and increase the level of awareness on how zero-waste initiatives can contribute to the achievement of Goals 11 and 12 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Globally, humanity is reported to be generating an estimated 2 billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually out of which only about 55 % is managed in controlled facilities. According to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021, approximately 931 million tons of food are wasted or lost yearly. In yet another UNEP report tagged “From Pollution to Solution” around 14 million tons of plastic waste end up in aquatic ecosystems.
Africa’s current waste realities
The current growing population, urbanisation, changing consumer and purchasing habits in Africa are predicted to result in a significant rise in waste generation. This trend would undoubtedly add more pressure and strain on already constricted public and private sector waste services and infrastructure challenges on the continent.
The problem of waste generation and management in Africa has been well documented and more so in recent times. According to Africa Waste Management Outlook (WMO), published in 2018 by UNEP, the waste recycling outputs from the continent stand at only 4%. This is far beneath the goal of 50% of waste recycling set out for cities in Africa by the Agenda 2063 of the African Union vision.
MSW generated in Africa may grow to 244 million tons yearly by 2025. Generally, the average rate of waste collection is only just 55% (i.e., 68 million tons) with sub-Saharan Africa reported as collecting about 44% of the generated waste. Nonetheless, the rate of the collection seems to vary significantly between rural and urban locations, as well as within some urban settings. Moreover, the quality of collection services is very poor, inadequate, and unorganised most especially in rural communities.
One waste stream of great concern in Africa is waste plastic. It is estimated that 13% of the MSW generated is plastic, the bulk of which is dumped on land and in the marine environment.
What is even more worrying is that the negative impact of Africa’s mismanaged waste culture can be very detrimental if not properly curbed. For instance, indiscriminate waste dumping in urban areas can result in an increased risk of flooding, disease, and environmental pollution. The disposal of organic waste can lead to the generation of greenhouse gases which in turn contributes to climate change. It is important to emphasise that the climate crisis is said to have reached a tipping point.
Implications for Africa
The International Day of Zero Waste is now here to stay and its theme for 2023 is expected to aid in stemming the tide of the triple global crisis of climate change, nature loss and biodiversity, and pollution. This is indeed a clarion call to all in Africa (government bodies, businesses, and individuals) to raise the game on waste generation and management.
There is an urgent need for African countries to rise to the current waste management challenges. This is even more imperative because of the forecast of more growth in waste generation over the few decades following. This will require on a grand scale, social and technological innovation, and investment in infrastructure and services both in the waste and corresponding secondary resources sectors.
Currently, there is limited availability of reliable, comprehensive, and up-to-date waste data for Africa. This alone impedes effective waste management. Another constraint is the lack of empirical data on the effects of inadequate waste management practices (such as exposure to hazardous substances) on the health of humans and the environment.
Therefore, it is very challenging and almost near impossible to develop any robust performance indicators for the management of waste to guide decision-making in practice. One crucial reason for this aspect of the problem could be attributed to waste generation and disposal services not being sufficiently recognised by the relevant authorities as valuable parts of planning and management.
But credit where it is due, the existing gaps have also served as opportunities to leverage technological innovations over the past decade. The waste recycling and recovery initiatives – Wecyclers and Packag-ching in Nigeria and South Africa respectively are examples of these initiatives. These innovative services utilise cheap, and eco-friendly cargo bicycles to provide convenient collection services for businesses and households. These are being mostly implemented in areas with very low or poor municipal waste collection systems.
There is The Rethaka Foundation’s Repurpose Schoolbag initiative which serves to enlighten families as well as safeguard children while on their way to school. The foundation also aids in the collection, reuse, and recycling of PVC waste, turning them into low-cost schoolbags for disadvantaged children.
The approach of the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) recycling company (PETCO) to voluntary Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for PET plastic bottles at the end of their life cycle is another good innovation and has led to a 65% recycling rate of post-consumer PET plastic bottles in South Africa. This model has even been adopted in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Other sustainable waste management business initiatives are being explored and practised in some other regions of the continent.
Notwithstanding, the uptake of innovative waste management and treatment technologies in Africa has been slow in general. The dumping and incineration of waste in the open have continued to be the predominant systems for managing waste on the continent.
Although a variety of waste management technologies exist globally, only some of them are suitable or financially feasible for Africa, particularly in the near-to-mid-term.
An “import” of some of the extensive recycling and recovery technology (practised in developed nations) to Africa, could result in short-term costs ranging from US $6 billion to US $42 billion for the continent. Based on the alternative waste management technologies adopted, this can further increase to between US $17 billion and US $125 billion by 2040.
Solutions in a nutshell
Granted, there are existing international, continental, and regional policies which seem to be in place to help in tackling of the problems of waste and pollution in Africa. However, it is uncertain how these policies have been implemented in practice and to what degree their goals and commitments have been met.
Many limiting factors to the implementation of these policies include lack of enforcement, weak legislation, negative attitudes, low public awareness, poor state of services, political instability, corruption, and even conflicts.
In spite of these, the solutions that can be implemented within an idea waste management policy are by simply bringing waste under control through addressing the public health imperative – ensuring that all citizens have access to adequate and well-functioning waste management services. A robust waste management system is built upon consistent, reliable, and thorough cleaning of cities, as well as the regulated disposal of waste.
The second priority to be implemented in parallel would be to harness the opportunities of ‘waste as a resource’. In order to unlock the socio-economic benefits of waste as a resource, Africa needs to begin to move waste up the hierarchy of waste management (i.e., away from disposal) towards waste prevention, reuse, recycling, and recovery.
The actions that can be taken to ensure the achievement of these remedial measures are by building capacity and raising awareness (education, training, partnerships, collaborations, and informal sector integration), informed decision-making, the introduction of appropriate services and technologies and promotion of more investments.
Author Bio
Dr. Eyo Eyo is a lecturer and researcher in sustainable geotechnical engineering at the University of the West of England, United Kingdom. He is a sustainability advocate and has been applying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to solve the challenges of climate change for nearly 10 years. He has many publications in top ranking journals on the use of AI to tackle issues of climate change and sustainability.
