Question

UESTION ONE: CASE STUDY

Title: Municipal Solid Waste Management in the Kanzo Metropolitan Area, Sikaman

Kanzo is a metropolitan area in Sikaman, a least developed country in West Africa, which has experienced rapid urbanisation over the past six decades. The population of Kanzo in 1965 was 45,000, which tripled in two decades, and further reached 1.2 million in the year 2005. The National Development Planning Council (NDPC), headquartered in Kanzo has estimated that the city’s population surpassed the threshold of 5 million in 2019. City authorities have become worried, considering the current rate of urbanisation pegged at 3 percent per annum. The population growth coupled with the rapid expansion of the city has resulted in an urban sprawl and uncontrolled expansion from the adjourning municipalities. Also, there has been an increased crowding resulting in higher occupancy ratios in existing housing units, and the infilling of vacant plots in existing residential areas. According to the NDPC, over 70 percent of the population of Kanzo live in low income, high density population areas which account for many of the slums in the city and its peripheral environs.

Kanzo generates over 3,000 tons of solid waste per day and only about 60 percent is collected by the waste management organisations contracted through a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement. Of these, the organic waste, made up of kitchen waste including food leftovers, rotten fruits, vegetables, leaves, crop residues, animal excreta and bones constitute 65-70% whiles industrial waste made up of plastics, glass, metals, and paper account for the remaining 30-35%. The high organic and moisture contents left in the open at prevailing high temperatures require frequent removals, which place additional burden on an over strained collection system. Experts have warned that the delays and inefficiencies in the solid waste collection system in Kanzo, is what has accounted for the high incidence of cholera, typhoid fever, malaria, and other health hazards witnessed in the metropolis. Especially in low income areas where the waste is not segregated but mixed due to inadequate sanitation facilities, the problem becomes more compounded.

The lack of proper land use planning in Kanzo, also hinders effective sanitation and waste management practices. As reported in the April 9, 2019 edition of the Daily Mail Newspaper, the lack of comprehensive planning, the absence of planning controls, week enforcement of bye-laws, indiscipline, difficulty to apply service charges, limited number of waste management organisations, and the lack of an adequate and well maintained infrastructure in the urban, and industrial development processes is responsible Kanzo’s environmental problems. The publication further outlines that the poor layouts, untarred and narrow nature of the road networks particularly in slums, make it difficult for waste collection vehicles to reach some parts of the city compound the situation. This uncontrolled urbanisation has resulted in an increase in the average travel distance to be covered by collection vehicles and additional cost to waste management.

In January, 2020, resident associations from all sub-metropolitan areas of Kanzo staged a mammoth demonstration at the city centre and presented a petition to the Office of the Mayor of Kanzo, Dr. E.M Hygiene, to express their concerns on the unsustainable manner and poor solid waste management system, as well as the environmental risks associated with the practice.

REQUIRED:

i. Identify any four (4) major causes of the poor solid waste management and sanitation problems

confronting the Kanzo Metropolitan Area.

  

ii. Discuss any three (3) environmental risks which the poor solid waste management practices may pose to residents of Kanzo and suggest what the residents can do to help solve the problem.

iii. From the above case, use your knowledge in waste management to recommend three (3) sustainable ways by which the City Authorities can solve this problem.

Answer 1

i) 4 Major causes of poor solid management and sanitation problems confronting the Kanzo Metropolitan Area are as follows:-

1)Culture, Education, and Microeconomics - a)The Attitude and Behavior Gap due to dense population

b)Lack of Education and Awareness

c)Choice & Response is low as 70% population has low-income

2)Infrastructure and Technology - a)Inadequate Service and Operational Inefficiencies

b)Ineffective Technologies and Equipment to cover the slum areas with narrow roads

  c)Inadequate Landfill Disposal as only 60% is disposed that to organis and inorganic waste mixed

3)Policy, Institutions, and Macroeconomics - a)Lack of Policy Enforcement and Responsibility

b)Lack of Monitoring and Regulation

4)No Utilization of Waste Reduction Activities - Recycle, Reuse etc.

ii) 3 Environmental risks which poor solid waste management practices may pose to residents of Kanzo are as follows:-

1)Air Contamination, Odors and Green-House Gases (GHG) Emission -  In particular, the smoke from burning debris is the biggest issue, which covers parts of the residential areas, affecting also the life quality of the population. Indeed, the citizens are affected by the smoke from burning debris and the smell of decomposing waste.Another environmental issue due to organic waste open dump is the GWP due to waste anaerobic degradation. Methane gas is a by-product of landfilling MSW; since MSW is mainly disposed of in open dump sites, the generated methane is released directly to the atmosphere. Experimental studies indicate that the anaerobic biodegradation of MSW organic waste generates about 200 Nm3 of methane per dry tons of biomass. Methane is one of the most important gas that improve the GWP, 25 times higher than CO2. Therefore, open dumps and uncontrolled landfills are direct source of GHG.

2)Surface Water and Groundwater Pollution - Run off from the dump site with contaminants dissolved inflow into water bodies, while the leachate contaminates the soil and groundwater. Moreover, environmental contamination is due to the high level of fecal and total coliform that pollute groundwater located near the site. The landfill leachate generates in open dump sites contains concentration of organic carbons, ammonia, chloride, heavy metals, as well as high concentrations of fluoride, chloride, ammonium–nitrogen, biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

3)Vectors of Diseases - The above conditions are the sources of many air-borne and water-borne diseases and allergies. The high concentration of heavy metals in water and toxic gases also create poisonous mutations in body cells and causes death. The open solid waste is also good breeding place for mosquitos and other disease microorganism bearing insects.