Setting the scene

Dar is the 3^rd fastest growing city in Africa. In general waste production is firmly related to GDP and in fact both show equal growth rates. Up until now only highly developed countries with dedicated waste management regulations and systems are able to decouple growth in GDP and waste production. Over the last few years Tanzania has shown an annual growth in real GDP of 7% with most of this growth taking place in Dar es Salaam (DSM). Waste management has not kept pace with this growth. As well as solid waste management, the key drivers of degradation in DSM include informal settlement, the extraction of natural resources, effluent, the extraction of water, and emissions.

It is estimated that DSM produces 5,600 tonnes of waste per day. About 60% of waste generated in DSM remains uncollected and may end up in storm water drains, contributing to pollution of runoff water, rivers and coastal waters and exacerbating annual flooding events and the spread of disease. This trend relates to the high levels of informal settlement in DSM (some 70% of residential land is occupied by informal settlements). Data from each municipality shows that 40% of uncollected waste remains uncontrolled while 18% or approximately 767 tons per day is controlled on site by burying or burning. Approximately 13% or 546 tons of waste per day is recycled or reused. More than 90% of human and industrial waste in the city is discharged into open water bodies untreated, leading to groundwater contamination, public health risks, eutrophication and environmental degradation.

Waste management services

There are two principle pieces of environmental legislation in Tanzania: National Environment Policy 1997 & The Environmental Management Act 2004. Part IX of the 2004 Act does focus on waste management by charging local government with the duty to manage and minimize solid waste at source. Part IX has five main sections: 1) Solid Waste, 2) Litter, 3) Liquid Waste, 4) Gaseous Waste, and 5) Hazardous Waste. A lack of financial and technical resource at the local authority level has meant much of the legal provision for waste management remains unimplemented. Local regulations, by laws and guidelines are severely lacking.

Waste management services in Tanzania began in 1961 and under Dar es Salaam City Council until 1994. In response to woeful City Council waste collection rates, local authorities in partnership with leading development partners including the UN Development Programme and the International Labour Organisation launched the Environment Planning and Management Process – part of a wider urban development framework called the Sustainable Dar es Salaam City Project. This allowed private companies to provide waste management. By 1999, 15 for profit entities and 55 community-based organisations have been granted permission to operate. While implementation of Sustainable Dar es Salaam’s solid waste management reforms increased waste collection from 21% in 2001 to 40% in 2007, solid waste management services are still basic in most unplanned areas. In DSM there are at least 64 unplanned wards and hundreds of sub-wards where local leaders enter into informal agreements to provide solid waste management services.

Dumpsites identified since independence in 1961:

Pugu Kinyamwezi is currently the city’s only official dumpsite. It is situated 35km from city centre in Ilala District covering about 75 hectares. It operates in some of the most deplorable conditions imaginable. A 2004 Environmental Impact Assessment by Environmental Resources Group recommended protective measures before Pugu was opened. These measures which have not been implemented include: leachate and gas management systems; strategy for waste recycling; infrastructure (such as perimeter fence, weighbridge, paved roads, storm drains) other than a weighbridge that broke in 2010. Moreover, there is gross misuse of the dumpsite were, for instance; 1,200-1,600 tonnes of hazardous and medical waste dumped on site weekly.  The DSM region has no formal capacity for the disposal of hazardous waste produced domestically or by hospitals, industry and agriculture. There is no public registry or monitoring system keeping track of these materials and most of these materials are therefore expected to be disposed of or incinerated in improper ways. Controlling this waste, directing it to the landfill site and treating it in separate cells would be a vast step forward.

Pugu dumpsite is receiving no more than 1,000 tons/day on average, representing no more than 20% of all generated waste. In planned and unplanned areas of the city where the population is less affluent and the roads more congested, waste is picked up by handcart for delivery to neighborhood collection points or taken directly to these locations by households. The local districts (DLAs) or the private sector subsequently pick up the accumulated waste from the neighborhood collection sites for transportation to the Pugu landfill. It was estimated by the DLAs that there are upwards of 50 to 60 of these neighborhood collection sites across the city. They range from skips to large open areas where waste is dumped resulting in wind-blown litter, open burning and the potential for disease vectors. 3,000 tonnes of waste per day is buried, burned and/or left somewhere in DSM’s streets, open spaces, canals, sewers and shores, thus contributing to health problems for local residents, flooding and methane emissions.

Transfer stations are not yet available in Dar es Salaam. This means that every waste collection truck has to take the waste to the Pugu dumpsite, a round-trip distance of 60 kms in usually heavy traffic.

There are almost no facilities aiming at separation, reuse and recycling available in DSM. Rather informal scavengers play a prominent role in recycling. A study found that 100% of waste pickers interviewed travelled on foot, carrying a long plastic bag, travelling on average 10-15 km over 8-12 hours/day carrying 1-7kg per trip. They are bringing waste to informal recycling centres at Mikocheni B, Nantanga, General Tyre, Biafra, Manyanya, Magomeni Morrocco, Jangwani, Kaunda, Kamata, Ilala, Boma, Gueji, Pugu Kinyamwezi, Kivukoni Fish Market and Clock Tower. The role of scavengers could grow if they can find a way to organize their workforce and transform into formal companies. Their working conditions could be improved and health impacts minimised through the provision of personal protective equipment. Most common traded waste materials are hard plastics (i.e. PET/HDPE), white paper, cardboard, metal, bone and glass. There is a combined total of about 1,237 waste pickers operational at both the identified informal recycling transfer stations, and the Pugu dumpsite.

References

• Palfreman 2014 Waste Management and Recycling in Dar es Salaam
• Palfreman 2015 The potential for waste management and recycling in Tanzania
• Expert Mission on integrated solid waste management (ISWM) to Dar es Salaam 2016