Waste Separation and 3R’s Principles for Sustainable SWM: Practice of Households, Private Companies and Municipalities in Five Ethiopian Cities

Abstract

In many developing countries, solid waste is not collected and disposed properly. This leads to public health risks; for example, due to water contamination and air pollution. This research examines how municipalities frame and act on waste separation and 3’R principles (reduce, reuse and recycling) and how they involve households and private providers to ensure sustainable SWM. Questionnaire, interview and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were used to gather data from private and government municipal service providers. The findings indicated that, in Ethiopia, the federal rules, policies and contractual arrangements for SWC clearly show the necessity for waste separation and 3’R principles. Yet, the lack of commitment of the Cleaning Administration Agency (CAA) and Cleaning Administration Department (CAD), the less concern of the private companies and the residents toward the absence of responsible institution to integrate actors are existing challenges. The Ethiopian government needs to improve the governing capacity of municipalities. Besides, it should commit a full-scale implementation of sustainable SWM through raising public awareness of waste separation, the 3R’s principles, along with polluters’ pay principles. Otherwise, unnecessary loss of resources and overwhelming adverse impact on the environment, Ethiopian public health and safety will persist prevailing.

1. Introduction

Henry and Yongsheng [1] state the primary target of municipal SWM is to protect the health of the population, promote environmental quality, develop sustainability and provide support to economic productivity.

As with many Sub-Saharan African cities [2, 3, 4], Ethiopia has experienced many problems related to SWM for a long time. Solid waste accumulation within cities raises concerns about public health, environmental pollution and detrimental fatalities. The uncollected solid waste turns to be an ideal place for breeding microbial pathogens, flies, rats and other creatures which spread diseases [5], such as cholera, diarrhoea, etc. Poor hygienic practices have contributed to the spread of diseases in Ethiopia which accounts for more than 60% of the disease burden in the country [6]. The recent accidental death on ‘Koshe’ disposal site is evident for the destructive nature of unmanaged waste.

Municipal services in developing countries are handicapped by limited finances. The ever-increasing demand on urban services has also exerted another challenge. As a result, contracting out SWC services to the private sector has emerged to fill the gap in service delivery.

The gathering and safe removal of waste require due emphasis. For example, generation rates in 2009 in Nairobi are estimated at 1850 tons/day. Only 33% is composed and removed [7]. Similarly, according to Okot-Okum, only 21.7% is gathered in a daily base. Likewise, from 9,240,000 kg waste collected daily, only 29% is gathered in Ethiopia. This shows that various areas of the cities do not obtain appropriate service from SWC. As a result, most citizens in the urban areas dispose their waste randomly. This also indicates that the waste separation and 3 R’s principles should be properly conceived and implemented. In developing countries, waste is not processed, reused in a cost-efficient and safe manner [8].

There are a number of academic studies on SWM in Africa. To mention some, Awortwi [9] focuses on governance in multiple arrangements and the relationships between capacity and contractual arrangements. Obirih-Opake [4] deals with on public private partnerships (PPP), specifically the impact of decentralisation and private sector participation on urban environmental management. The concerns for Karanja [8] are sustainable development issues in SWM; institutional arrangements; the role, interest, success and failure of different actors. Collins [10] and Koppenjan [11] show the challenges facing PPP and identify the focus of private sector as only on short-term return on investment. Katusiimeh [12] indicates the lack of regulation and transparency in Uganda. Tilaye and van Dijk [13] underline the importance of consistent power of the state in shaping the developmental role of the private sector (focus on micro enterprises). Baud and Post try to connect SWM with sustainable development by operationalising three broad goals: ecological sustainability, socio-economic equality and improvement of health. They argue that there is a gap in the current literature on sustainable SWM in developing countries that the system is rarely investigated in its entirety. Assessments combining separation of waste, productive use of waste and the three broad goals of sustainability are still largely absent [14]. The number of studies on SWM remark the importance of regulatory and institutional framework, and they have shown the rhetoric nature of the issues when compared with the real practice on the ground. The sustainability of SWM depends on how the waste separation and the 3R’s principles are conceived and implemented by actors in the waste management sector. This research examines how municipalities frame and act on waste separation and 3’R principles and how they involve households and private providers to ensure sustainable SWM. The rational to examine this issue is due to the fact that the sustainability of SWM at the local government level is greatly influenced by the role the aforementioned actors play.

This study hypothesised that the current SWC practice through PSI fails to assimilate waste separation and the 3R’s principles and make use of the role the actors could play for sustainable SWM. Thus, the research question is: How have the local governments framed and acted on waste separation and the 3R’s principles and engaged the actors for sustainable SWM? We offer insights into the ways of making waste separation and 3’R s principles feasible through the integrated involvement of household and private providers.

2. Theories on sustainable SWM, waste separation and the 3 R’s principles

The purpose of sustainability in SWC is to give good services for humans and protecting the environments [15]. It is a theory regarding the stability of economic, social and environmental features. According to Van de Klundert and Anschütz [16], sustainable SWM contains a system that can keep itself for longer periods without decreasing the resources.

In defining sustainable SWM, financial, social and environmental issues are essential elements.

The idea involves that environmental sustainability needs SWC and disposal that impose an unlimited load on the environment to be considered as resources which could be transformed in a closed-cycle system by restoring numerous natural cycles that in turn leads to a smaller loss of raw materials, energy and nutrients.

The application of waste separation and the 3R’s principles in SWM practices depends on some considerations. Waste reduction is associated with the knowledge of waste generators reuse and recycling. Essentially, recycling behaviours have a direct link with three sets of variables. Firstly, according to Vining and Ebreo [17], with environmental values form underlying attitudes towards the environment. In such attitude, people are more likely to act in environmentally suitable behaviours. Secondly, with situational aspects which hold facilitating and spiking impacts and are usually categorised as contextual [18, 19], socio-demographic [20], knowledge-centred [21] and experience-centred [22]. Thirdly, with psychological aspects that are distinctive perceptual characters of the individual and contain altruistic drives to reuse [23], outcome beliefs [23], subjective norms (or social influence; Chan [24]). Other related issues are a set of logistical factors and personal efficacy variables, such as time to undertake the activity [25] and belief that individuals have a responsibility to protect their environment which is termed as environmental ‘citizenship’ beliefs [26].

The core significance of recycling, composting and other commodity-based actions is the decrease in the quantity that wants to be moved to dump areas. In various countries, still there is a vast difference between the reality in the ground and the principle. From an environmental viewpoint, recycling may be favoured, but the economic costs or the problems of the institutional may inhibit waste recycling implementation in integrated SWM. The real integration can occur at numerous stages, Van der Klundert and Lardinois [27]. This contains waste processors such as formal and informal recyclers; waste generators such as households, industry and agriculture; and government organisations such as waste managers and urban planners. By collaborating with the societies, micro-enterprises may play a great role in public environment education. Having strong relation with the inhabitants can offer chances to introduce separation at sources. This could help workers benefit from collecting and selling the recyclable materials and create an opportunity for cost reduction for the municipality by reducing the quantity of waste.

3. The conceptual framework

The conceptual framework of sustainable SWM above is designed by the author after reviewing the theoretical perspectives raised so far. The cornerstones of the framework are environmental awareness of actors, institutional and regulatory arrangement. The logical process within the framework flaws from environmental awareness to organisational arrangement for the implementation of bylaws. The basis of the framework hinges on the notion of a link of factors, environmental awareness, institutional arrangement [28]. Thus, a flexible but a structured framework is formed to conceptualise previous studies in the area and also to organise data collection and analysis.

We consider four components (C1–C4, see Figure 1) for analysis. They are the environmental awareness of households and private SWC service providers for waste separation and the 3R’s (C1), the institutional, regulatory arrangement and availability of infrastructure, rules for the 3R’s, contractual obligations between CAA and CADs regarding 3R’s; moreover, CAA’s and CADs’ enforcement capacities are examined [29]. This component also considers the integration among stakeholders (C2). Then, (C3) looks at the implementation of waste separation and 3R’s. (C4) evaluates the outcomes of the SWM sector in terms of sustainability. In this component, households and private providers’ awareness and the integration of such actors and the contents in the contract are evaluated whether they lead to the implementation of waste separation and the 3R’s principles and environmental sustainability. Analysing the components, we provide recommendations for the feasibility of waste separation and the 3R’s principles implementation which lead to achieving sustainable SWM in Ethiopian cities. This could be relevant for other developing countries as well.

Figure 1.

Conceptual framework for implementing sustainable solid waste collection through 3R’s.

4. Description of the study area

The 2003 Constitution of Ethiopia stipulates that the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) comprises nine administrative regions and two administrative council cities. The total population of the country is about 90,078,000 [30]. There are 145 cities and towns with a population of more than 15,000 inhabitants. The rapid, constant growth of the urban population has led to a striking increase in urban solid waste generation, with a crucial environmental and socio-economic (i.e. related to disease and wastage of resources) impact. Low levels of access to SWC facilities and poor hygienic practices have contributed to the spread of diseases in Ethiopia. These factors account for more than 60% of the disease burden in the country [6]. Five cities were chosen for this study: namely Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Mekelle, Hawasa and Adama. These cities face rapid urbanisation and are the main regional capitals with the largest urban populations endangering the environment by generating much solid waste.

A previous study in Addis Ababa by Debere et al. [31] found that the median waste generation rate varied per household from 0.361 to 0.669 kg/day. Tadesse et al. [32] found a variation between 0.30 kg/day and 0.33 kg/day/household in Mekelle. The review of a baseline survey report shows that the average household in Hawasa city generates 0.42 kg/day. Getahun and Mengistie [33] indicates that low, middle and high-income households in Adama generate 0.67 kg/day, 1.21 kg/day and 1.87 kg/day, respectively. The per capita waste generation in Bahir Dar city is 0.25 kg/day from residential sources; however, it is about 0.45 kg/day from combined municipal waste – from residential, commercial, institutional and street sweeping sources [34]. The solid waste generation rate in Ethiopian cities is similar to that of low-income countries. Glawe et al. [35, 36] confirm that the waste generation rate of low-income countries is 0.1–0.5 kg/capita/day as opposed to 1.1 kg/capita/day and above in fully industrialised countries.

5. Materials and methods

Survey questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion, desktop survey and observation were used in this study. We collected data during two fieldwork periods in five Ethiopian cites: Addis Ababa, Mekelle, Bahir Dar, Hawas and Adama, between June 2014 and March 2017.

The researchers used a pre-tested structured questionnaire to gather information from 40 companies. Half of the 40 registered private companies were taken from Addis Ababa CAA, and the other three CADs were from the municipalities of the remaining four cities. The questions in the questionnaire were measured on a five-point Likert scale with categories ranging from ‘Strongly disagree’, ‘Disagree’, ‘Cannot tell’, ‘Agree’ and ‘Strongly agree’, ‘Very poor = 1,“Poor = 2’, ‘Fair = 3’, ‘Good = 4 ‘Very good = 5’. Also, Binary Scale (Yes/No) questions were included [37]. Analyses were conducted on secondary sources comprising available archive records and document from private companies’ monthly reports, contract agreement documents and CAA and CADs official waste-related documents.

Our interviewees were government experts from Ethiopian Environmental Protection Agency Ministry of Environment and Forest (EPA), Addis Ababa CAA and EPESA. We also visited company managers who gave us detailed information regarding their organisation’s SWC practice. It is believed that managers initiate, devise and oversee the operations of their company. The interview guide for government officials was open-ended questions and Yes/No questions.

In this study, Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted the five cities. The responses remained open-ended, and this enabled respondents to produce as much information as they wish to provide. This approach allows respondents to describe and analyse their experiences or feelings in their own words without being constrained by any form of framework.

Two FGD groups were formed. The first group had a total of six individuals with a composition of participants of whom two urban health extension workers, two health development representatives army – one male and one female. Community representatives were one male and one female. This group represented service users. The other FGD group consisted of six participants – two municipal officials, two private companies and two MSE members. This group represented service providers. Generally, the two groups were formed so as to make them free to respond genuinely. Members of the first group were taken through the communication with kebelle officials since they work with the kebelle representing residents. Both the two FGDs lasted 80 minutes each in average. Moreover, for the purpose of triangulation 25 households, five in each city were interviewed. These households were selected after proving that they had lived in each city more than 5 years. The justification was based on the belief the more they live in each city, the more they know about the SWC practice.

The observation was made by visiting throughout the city both in planned and unplanned areas and by taking a view of the whole process of SWC and general cleanliness. This gave us an opportunity to observe the practices within households and private providers in the institutions, transfer stations and disposal sites.

A combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods provided the most accurate data for this study. Data were categorised and cross-tabulated. To get accurate description of SWC practices, official documents and interview results were analysed qualitatively using narration. The methodological part of this paper did not use mathematical models for analysing the data which could have strengthened the result of the study, this may be stare as a curb for this study, but this can be improved by the next research studies on the topic.

6. Findings and discussion

6.1 SWC practices in the five cities

Solid waste is kept in waste sacks (locally knows as ‘kesha’) and containers ‘Genda’ before collection. Most of the waste sacks are over-used, with some holes on them uncovered and untidy. As a result, leachate and odour are unpleasantly common. The situation is aggravated by the presence of ownerless dogs that disperse the collected waste at the transfer station while searching for food. It was also observed that the wind disperses the dirt. Only a few households in each city use standard containers, durable with fitted lids, able to prevent odour and leachate flow from the waste, and these are mainly in high-income areas.

It is common in the five cities to see wastes in open drains or on the ground near the houses before the collection truck takes them. The waste is collected by the crew members and transferred to the disposal sites. These workers often complained about the littering habit of households, i.e. pushing waste from their houses into the ground, drainage lines and on roads. Burning and burying solid waste around home areas are practised by some households. During collection, crew members move around the households to alert them with alarms to bring waste out for collection. Then, they unload the waste from the waste sacks and containers, put them in the collection trucks and return the waste sacks to the owners. House-to-house and communal type of SWC is practised in the study cities. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Addis Ababa and in Adama collect waste from households, whereas SMEs in Bahir Dar and Hawasa collect waste from households, hotels and institutions and take the waste to transfer stations. In Addis Ababa, waste from hotels and institutions is taken to landfills by private companies while such waste is taken to transfer stations and landfills by companies in the other cities. CAA’s and CADs’ vehicles take waste from transfer points (communal containers) to the disposal site.

6.2 Awareness

FGD participants revealed that several individuals put waste in waste sacks and throw it in the narrow streets or under the fence of other households. Despite the presence of dust bins in most central parts of the city either as standing on the road or mounted on lamp posts or telegraph poles and other strategic sites, such as bus stops, shopping places and walk streets, people do not use them properly. As a result, banana skins, bus tickets, used tissue paper, chewing gums, etc. are seen on the street. And individuals are not held responsible for such trashes.

FGD participants especially in Addis Ababa confirmed that travellers and strangers are not concerned about the cleanliness of the city since they lack sense of ownership and awareness. From the FGD, we noticed that most of the time it is the women who manage and throw out the waste. Culturally, SWC tasks are largely left to mothers and maid servants. However, Hage et al. [38] found that gender does not matter much for recycling behaviour. Most households fail to recognise channelling of materials at household level to SMEs as precursor for supplying of material input to recycling and reuse process. We also noticed that people have low perceptions of the waste problem and its threat and their responsibility of safe environment.

Interviewed private company managers and SMEs members complained about health and safety issues due to poor SWC system. They also showed dissatisfaction with the poor cooperation of residents and poor storage practice of some households.

A study by Tilye and van dijk [13], which is related to this, revealed that the city cleanliness index of Addis Ababa was much less than that of the neighbourhood index. This was due to lack of public awareness of the health implications of unsanitary practices and residents’ indifference to the presence of waste.

FGD results indicate that CAA and CADs neither have they done much on public education themselves nor have integrated with service providers to do so. CAA and CADs did not provide the residents with facilities, such as dust bins and containers for sorting waste. Moreover, their failure to enforce a regulatory sanction made residents become less careful and even ignorant for waste handling. More general education and information about the broader issues underlying waste management are required in order to explain to the public the need for and the benefits from the acceptance of a wider responsibility towards waste disposal [39].

6.3 Awareness for waste reduction

What is ideal is reducing waste generation beforehand so that no waste is left for disposal or recycle. However, this conception is not equally understood by the community. In all the five cities, FGD participants mentioned that most of the residents are unaware of waste reduction. For instance, households are unaware of the importance of avoiding small individual packages of any products and using of durable plastic materials for handling as part of waste reduction activities. Even though the Ethiopian saying ‘Alemakosheshmatsdatnaw/not generating waste is tantamount to keeping clean’is displayed in public places, but it seems that most people do not value it.

Failing to understand the benefit of waste reduction is still seen even among the SW collecting private companies and SMEs. The main reason for this is, according to the FGD, their payment is based on the amount of waste they collect and dispose. Some companies even believe that the application of waste reduction means an activity which hinders their business as, for instance, compost making reduces the amount of waste to be collected. Even SMEs and other companies do not want residents to bury or incinerate waste. Some companies even mix ashes, concrete scarps with other waste so that the waste becomes heavier and looks full.’

6.4 Practice of waste separation

Ecological sustainability concerns household participation in reuse, recycling and composting and the intention to support recycling by practising in separation at source. The FGD results and personal observations show that many households do not have awareness about waste separation. An interviewee from a household in Mekelle said, ‘Let alone waste separation our district has no coverage for SWC’, he added, ‘we are better than others because we collect waste at least in a waste sack and make it ready for collection’. A few households reasoned lack of sorting materials for their failure of separating waste.

A household interviewee in Addis Ababa said people in the area do not have a warranty to get back their own relatively new waste storing material from SMEs. This forced them to use less value materials which subsequently affect the quality of waste handling. Two household interviewees who live in a condominium in Adama said they do not want more than one waste sack reasoning lack of space in their compounds.

Households are required to have two solid waste collection receptacles – one for organic and the other for non-organic waste as gathered from the FGD in Mekelle. However, this was later stopped because of residents’ carelessness and absence of enforcement from CADs.

As a better practice, in a sub-district of Bahir Dar city, people used to separate waste using three different coloured containers, i.e. yellow for plastic waste; green for degradable waste; and black for hazard waste. Officials in the city confirmed that there was an effort by individuals at household level to separate waste for different purposes. There were trained households by government, civil society and community-based organisation to separate the organic part of the waste and produce compost in their compounds. This was later stopped because of the residents’ carelessness and absence of support from CADs. Some households separate animal extract and use or sell it for fuel purpose.

According to the CAA and CADs officials, the challenges for waste separation are CAA’s incapability to provide households with different coloured waste sorting materials even in the rich neighbourhoods and the absence of a responsible monitoring body. All the cities shared the lack of kerbside recycling bins, lack of recycling machineries both in the transfer stations and in the disposal sites and a gap towards mobilising household and private providers to separate waste. This finding is similar to Williams and Kelly [40], who found that people mentioning insufficient availability of space to store recyclables both inside and outside the home as well as inadequate local facilities as barriers for separation and recycling. However, CAD officials in Mekelle planned to request their regional administration to produce plastic waste bins to be distributed to the residents at a lower price.

6.5 Waste reuse and recycling practice

It was noticed from the FGD that willingness to reuse and eventually reduce waste is not based on the positive environmental attitudes and active concern for waste issues; it is rather on economic benefits. This is because they use the waste to earn money. Households are the first level for identifying the type of waste for reuse. This practice even extends to the disposal sites. Disposal sites do not have fences. People live around them. Painstakingly, some people search for materials with their naked fingers to extract plastic bags, cans and iron bars.

Recyclable materials in the household waste stream in each city can be categorised as dry, i.e. comprising paper, plastics, metals, glass and textile, etc. and organic material, consisting of kitchen (food) and garden waste, which are suitable for composting. From our observation in the five cities, we noticed private companies were collecting solid waste with high organic content.

A resident interviewee in the rich neighbourhood said that there is potentially recyclable waste in his compound; for instance, shampoo bottles, empty facial tissue boxes, empty toilet paper tubes and the like. Items that have intrinsic commodity value, such as glasses, cans, rubbers, plastics, low grade paper, are locally traded. These materials are bought by itinerant buyers (Locally known as ‘korale’ and ‘Liwach’). The ‘korale’ are door-to-door traders who buy and/or exchange reusable items; for example, tins, plastics, bottles, nail varnish containers, broken cooking jars, used shoes, old garments, etc. They supply such materials to middlemen at Mercato in Addis Ababa and at the local markets in the other cities.

These traders have a huge impact on the reduction of solid waste both at household and city level. Despite their well-established economic system and a market niche in the city, they were less recognised by the public sector for their contribution to recycling and reuse. According to the FGD with CAA and CAD officials, such individuals are informal collectors from the poor section of the society. There are more than 10,000 informal collectors in Addis Ababa as secondary data indicated. Yet, they are not organised and do not have support from the city administration.

A review of the ‘Urban Development and Construction Minster, Waste Management and Green Development Strategy Document’ shows that Ethiopia’s climate Resilient Green Economy strategy underpins mainly four issues: forest protection and development; electric power generation from renewable energy; modern energy saving transport, and industry development. Linked to waste management, the strategy stipulates wastes from households, transfer stations and disposal sites should be reused to enhance agricultural productivity through compost and bio gas production. A CAA official in Addis Ababa mentioned that in the disposal site called ‘Koshe’, biogas generation project is undergoing.

This strategy document states that SME associations who are involved in the reuse and compost production could be granted land with discounted lease payment and facilitated. For instance, capital goods imported for such production will be tax-free. This makes SMEs and households to be integrated into compost marketing. So, the benefit goes both to them and to the farmers through satisfying their demand for fertilisers. Nevertheless, the FGD shows that the strategy has not yet been successfully implemented. SME interviewees confirmed that though they were conscious about the strategy, they were not involved and became beneficiaries. On the other hand, some households consider the compost production as a burden on their livelihood, and they fear they may not have a market for it. Still, some others complained about a lack of space to produce compost.

As a good practice in the periphery of Bahir Dar city, we discovered a resident who locally produces compost from organic materials consisting of kitchen and garden waste. He uses his compost in his garden and farmland. He also sells the compost in the local market. He said he had a vision of environmental responsibility. He also envisioned that he would produce more if he would get machinery support as he believes composting is a business opportunity. He remarked that if people are educated in this regard, over the years people gradually would evolve from a hauler of waste to a producer of fertilisers.

Connected to reuse and recycling, a large proportion of reusable materials are transported to small towns and rural areas to be used as household items, such as plastic bottles for holding water, oil and gas; used cans for storing cereals, honey, butter and spices. In the five cities, there are industries that reuse rejected paper, glasses, plastic fabrics, iron pieces and steel rods as raw materials. Raw materials for plastic fabrics which are imported could have been substituted by local scraps through recycling.

7. Integrationamong actors for waste separation and 3R’s principle’s

The partnership mainly among municipalities, private providers and households is essential for sustainable SWM. However, the FGD revealed that there is a missing link among these actors in all the study cities. Out of 40 companies surveyed, 32 admitted that they have never had meetings with households, whereas eight companies said they used to have a few meetings with households.

When interviewed, CAA and CADs officials in the study cities contended that they advised households via the local governments (Kebele) to use micro-enterprises for primary SWC and carry out waste separation. However, they admitted that they did not schedule for discussion and communication between the community and the SMEs as well as private companies. It is the government which pays and monitors the SWC system. Households do not own the process. Moreover, health extension workers participated in the FGD mentioned that there has not been integration among government sector offices such as health office, municipalities and private providers. It was also discussed that CAA and CADs are supposed to ensure co-operation among the actors to implement waste separation and the 3R’s principle’s.

For the FGD participants, the design and operation of SWC are managed in a top-down approach. There is a by-law for waste separation and 3R’sat CAA and CADs level. However, the SWC system including the service payment for private providers is not subject to this by-law. The role of actors to implement the by-law is overlooked. Consequently, households do have less participation in the scheme. The lack of awareness is the major contributory factor for the failure of most SWM schemes [41]. Post and Obirih-Opareh [42] report that to make SWC services more sustainable, consulting residents about the most appropriate methods of collection, i.e. affordability of materials for waste separation and cost sharing is important.

8. Companies’ views on waste separation and 3R’s practice

Companies were asked whether they separate waste and implement the 3R’s principle’s, the views of the company managers are presented in the Table 1.

Indicators	Agree					Disagree
	Addis Ababa	Mekelle	Adama	Bahir Dar	Hawasa	Addis Ababa	Mekelle	Adama	Bahir Dar	Hawasa
Do you separate waste	4	2	1	1	1	16	2	5	5	4
Do you have meetings with customers to discuss about SWC	2	2	2	1	1	18	2	4	4	4
Conducts public education regularly	20	2	2	2	3	0	2	4	3	2
Does the contract include 3R principles

Table 1.

Companies’ views on waste separation and 3R’s practice.

As shown in the table above, 31 of the private companies disagree that they separate waste; eight companies said they used to separate. A company manager in Addis Ababa said they stopped separating because of the difficulties to provide different waste sacks (plastics) to households and the unwillingness of households to separate waste. Another company manger in Mekelle said as they have limited number of waste collecting vehicles and crew members, hence it is difficult to arrange and manage different vehicles for separated waste. He said that is why they stopped early even though their agreement with the CAD needs them to separate waste.

Company manger complained about the attitude of the people towards waste separation. Interview results show that some people have even negative attitudes towards waste collection.

One company manager told us that some people are careless for collecting waste let alone sorting it. Another one added that doors are often found closed during waste collection time.

9. Public education for sustainable SWM

CAA and CADs are obliged to conduct public education regularly on sound environmental practices. Although 29 out of the 40 companies agree with the presence of public education, they said that it is not implemented regularly. From the FGD we noticed that, in Ethiopian cities there is no public education about 3R principles even on TV or in the school’s curriculum. Changing individual behaviour towards recycling and other forms of waste management is central to achieving a sustainable future [43, 44]. That is why such effective programmes have to be implemented to match this goal.

There are fundamental principles of the by-laws as the document review of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA discloses. Accordingly, principle ‘A’ states: Cities have the relevant, responsibility to ensure that all waste generated within their jurisdiction is collected, transported treated, disposed of or recycled. And principle ‘B’ underlines that such collection, transportation, treatment, disposal or recycling is the responsibility of waste management hierarchy as stated in the subsections of the by-laws.

The by-laws underpin principles to establish a waste management hierarchy of priority: (a) waste avoidance, waste minimisation and waste reduction; (b) reuse; (c) recycling, reprocessing and treatment; and (d) disposal. However, the principles are not properly implemented by CAA and CADs as the officials confirmed during the interview. For example, there is no sanctioning against offenders, against residents and private providers for violating the by-laws. Companies’ views on CAA and CADs’ implementation based on their contractual agreement are presented.

Monitoring of SWC needs information about performance targets type of waste collected, number of trips made and cubic meter of waste disposed.

As it is shown in Table 2, 32 respondents said monitoring of the companies’ compliance to regulations and standards on 3R principles was inadequate. Quantity of waste collected and their output by CAA and CADs was adequate according to 36 companies’ responses. They have workers appointed in the disposal sites to keep records on the waste disposed. The payment is based on these records. However, there is no effort from CAA and CADs to monitor companies to separate waste.

Regulation indicators	Adequate					Inadequate
	Addis Ababa	Mekelle	Adama	Bahir Dar	Hawasa	Addis Ababa	Mekelle	Adama	Bahir Dar	Hawasa
Monitoring of companies service quality and compliance to regulations and standards set in the contracts regarding (implementation of 3R)	2	4	2	0	0	18	0	4	0	0
Monitoring of households whether separating waste or not	20	4	0	5	5	0	0	6	0	0
Supervision of the private providers to implement 3R and waste separation	1	1	1	0	0	19	3	5	5	5
CAA and CADs’ enforce sanctions in the contracts signed with the; Companies regarding waste separation	2	4	0	0	0	18	0	6	5	5

Table 2.

Companies’ views on regulation of quality of service and 3R implementation.

Filed survey result, 2016.

The CAA and CADs have an obligation of supervising the private companies to implement 3R principles. The contract management and supervision of the private sector by the CAA and CADs are rated inadequate by 37 companies. The interview with these companies shows this is due to the limited capacity and lack of commitment of CAA and CADs to enforce the principles.

Monitoring of SWC includes daily inspection of service areas and container sites; issuing warning letters and terminating contracts for poor performance.

CAA and CADs do not adequately enforce the sanctions indicated in the contract as 34 of the respondents pointed out. Oduro-Kwarting [37] remarks the experience from Ghana shows the municipality takes responsibility for monitoring the performance of service providers. Providers shall co-operate fully with the monitoring firm. This means, it allows the firm to have access at all times; to inspect work being carried out under the agreement and all records and documents maintained by the service provider. It also permits the firm to inspect the service provider‘s vehicles, plant, stocks of spare parts and workshop facilities. This, in turn, helps to observe regulations. Moreover, providers shall attend monthly meetings at the request of the regulator firm where operational and other issues of mutual interest may be discussed.

CAA and CADs apply enforcement of by-laws and contract rules on companies. On this issue, the views of the company managers are presented in Table 3. They do have differing views as 34 of them disagree the by-laws on 3R were enforced; 37 of them also disagree that the fines for defaulting the by-laws were not punitive enough; 38 of them assert that the monitoring of compliance was not effectively done, and 35 of the companies said the environmental health standards and sanitary regulations implementation of 3R were not strictly observed and enforced.

Indicators	Agree					Disagree					Can not tell
	Addis Ababa	Mekelle	Adama	Bahir Dar	Hawasa	Addis Ababa	Mekelle	Adama	Bahir Dar	Hawasa
The by-laws of the CAA and CADs and national laws on environmental sanitation specially 3R and waste separation are enforced.	3	0	3	0	0	15	4	3	5	5	2
The fine for defaulting by-laws is punitive enough	0	0	3	0	0	20	4	3	5	5
The monitoring of compliance to solid waste service standards set in the contracts is done effectively.	0	2	0	0	0	20	2	6	5	5
The environmental health standards and sanitary regulations are strictly observed and enforced	2	1	2	0	0	18	3	4	5	5

Table 3.

Companies’ views on enforcement of legislation.

10. Challenges and opportunities for waste separation and 3R’s implementation

An interview with an official in the EPA disclosed that even though the underlying principles to establish a waste management hierarchy in the order of priority of importance: (a) waste avoidance, waste minimisation and waste reduction; (b) reuse; (c) recycling, reprocessing and treatment; and (d) disposal is already documented nationally. Yet, the implementation of these principles has not been feasible due to constraints, mainly a failure to execute strict rules, such as fining residents for not separating waste. In fact, this issue is politically sensitive according to the informant. The way out as he suggested is educating the public. It is being planned to include sustainable SWM in school curriculum and other sectors’ programmes. However, the FGD with service users shows that the local administrations are not committed. The capacity of the CAA and CADs to facilitate, regulate and monitor 3R’s principles implementation is hampered by a number of factors. According to one of the CAA official, ‘The main constraints for implementing waste separation and 3R’s are weak capacity of CAA and lack of political will as officials are busy with other urgent routines’. Not only is there less concern for SWM, but also setting inadequate budget is one of the main challenge. In this regard, the survey shows that there is very low service payment for SWC providers in Ethiopian cities. The FGD with CAA officials in Addis Ababa unfolds CAA collects more than 30 million ETB or 1,421,800 USD per month through water bill from the city residents. Other FGD results have also shown that all cities, but Adama, collect service charge in the same way.

No matter how much the service payment in each city is, all companies and SMEs complain about the under payment. Interviewed CAA officials in Addis Ababa said that only 2 million ETB from the total of 30 million ETB collected is allocated for SWC. This implies that the rest 28 million ETB is not used for SWC. This is true in all the other cities.

The interview with SMEs’ members indicated that the monthly income members get is unsatisfactory even to afford medical and education expenses. In connection to this, Wilson et al. [45] confirm that low salary is paid typically between US $25 and 50 per month for primary waste collectors. This means that SWC is given less priority by local governments in developing countries. From the interview with SMEs’ associations and private companies, we noted that there was low service payment. This practice discourages private providers from becoming vigorous towards waste separation and 3R’s and even not pursue in SWC business. The findings in the FGD indicate that despite government’s plan concerning achievement of food security through forming SMEs’ associations and involving them into waste collection, the practice in each city shows the needy people who work in waste management are not beneficiaries of social safety net.

As opposed to the challenges discussed so far, the FGD uncovers some opportunities to carry out waste separation and 3R’s. To begin with, uniquely in Ethiopian cities, SMEs are already organised in the form of association to readily embark on the implementation governed by the existing by-laws. Secondly, the growing industries to be fed by recyclable materials have created potential market. Thirdly, the recent national horrendous waste-slide event at ‘Koshe’ disposal site which was a cause for the death of dozens of poor people could serve as a wakeup call for the nation as far as 3R’s and SWM are concerned. Fourthly, the Kaizen strategy which is being preached and practised presently to systematically remove recyclable office waste, such as used papers, ink cartridges, packing canvases, irrecoverable machines, broken furniture in government organisations is likely to be explored in waste separation and 3R’s.

11. Conclusions

The study evaluated the practice of waste separation and 3R’s which are critical for attaining sustainable SWM. The challenges for implementing these principles on the part of households, private providers and local administrations perspective are identified.

The research upheld the theoretical base of sustainable SWM. As shown in the literature, a waste management system needs to be tuned to the local conditions and feasible from a technical, environmental, social, economic, financial, institutional and political perspective [46]. It should be able to maintain itself over time without exhausting the resources upon which it depends. This is highly dependent on the preparation of an enabling environment and implementation of waste separation and 3R’s principles. The finding shows that waste minimisation is not really adhered due to lack of knowledge at the household level. More importantly, the households, private solid waste collectors and informal waste collectors are not mobilised towards waste separation and 3R’s implementation. The current SWC contractual obligation fails to enforce waste separation and 3R’s principles and achieve sustainable SWM. However, economic incentives play a more important role than ecological considerations in separating and channelling reusable and recyclable items from the waste stream at household level. Informal waste pickers and households selling recyclable waste are driven by their need of earning money. These actors supply materials for reprocessing with the absence of legitimate strategy and regulations. The recyclable rejects could have been eventually alight into usable products and fertilisers for which there is unending demand. This has made the market for recyclable materials insufficient and the recycling loop unclosed. Thus, mostly it remains in the dark.

There is no integration for implementing waste separation and 3R’s principles among actors. In each city, there is a practice of waste muddling which affects environmental sustainability. There are gaps to apply waste prevention and reduction principles through utilising composition and suitability of the waste for certain types of treatments. Consequently, against the popular sustainability concept of people, planet and profit (as shown in the conceptual framework), the waste in the disposal site in each city forms a large pile. This poses health risks to the society that ultimately could affect the air and water supply on planet sustainability. Besides, the existing SWC is not profitable financially for it disregards the potential prevention of pollution by reduction of waste and other reasons. Such phenomenon is stated by [47] as it is poorly committed to prolong the lifespan of landfills [48]; and nor does it help to succeed at bringing down the cost of waste collection, transporting, recycling and disposal [49].

Local governments lack of committed account for the failure to implement waste separation and 3 R’s. Policies aimed at encouraging waste reduction, reuse and recycling are not effectively implemented. This is consistent with our hypothesis that the current SWC practice through PSI fails to assimilate waste separation and the 3R’s principles and make use of the role the actors could play for sustainable SWM. Also, it coincides with the theoretical implication of the absence of waste separation, implementation if 3R‘s principles and the missing of the productive use of waste damage ecological sustainability, socio-economic equality and improvement of health.

The large heaps of solid waste left uncollected in Ethiopian cities are still dangerous. This implies that treating waste as a useful resource seems far-reaching. In other words, SWC and SWM are not yet improved. We have felt that the term ‘sustainable waste management’ has been used as an alibi rather than as a guide for strong action in Ethiopian cities. Unfortunately, its effect is already taking its toll on us. In the situation where there are heaps of waste generated from our cities, overlooking waste separation and 3R’s principles implementation risks a replica of the ‘Koshe’ horrific disaster.

This finding implies the need for an institution specifically responsible for gluing the actors together. The Ethiopian government should not procrastinate to implement full-scale sustainable SWM.TV programmes and social media could play a role in disseminating information. The environment is a joint resource which everybody needs to care for. Particularly, since waste reduction is critical to avoid waste collection cost public education needs to be a priority.

A system of SWM which harmonises the technical requirements with the objectives of environmental protection is essential. Waste should be kept in manageable plastic waste bins that could be easily moved and comfortable for collection. This could reduce the time it takes for waste collection and service facilitation.

Given waste separation and 3R’s principle’s disregarded, disposal sites in the cities should be at least plotted in the master plan, demarcated, fenced, equipped with waste incinerator. They need to have leachate treatment so that they might not have negative impact on the people and environment. Moreover, after finishing their service life, the disposal sites could be used for other purposes. National project of evacuation of waste from illegal dumpsites into newly constructed sanitary landfills all over Ethiopia is strongly recommended for a better and more healthy environment. Laws to ban import of raw materials made up of plastic waste need to be implemented.

With all the challenges, however, maximising the existing opportunities could serve as a threshold to meet the aspired sustainable SWM. Further studies that could contribute to environmental awareness and local governments’ commitment need to be conducted.