Rethinking of the Solid Waste Management System of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Municipal solid waste management is an important component of urban services that is often handled by local governments. Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia faces rapid urbanization leading to overcrowding and the development of shantytowns and poor neighborhoods. The general aim of this study was to appraise the present dry waste service provision of Addis Ababa. This study used an integrative literature review method with critical analysis to investigate the current solid waste management status in Addis Ababa. The results of this study show that the delivery of the service does not keep pace with the city's solid waste generation and the city's municipal disposal of solid waste is found in actual, low status and spatial coverage. This humble status of city garbage management is also heightened by three critical factors, i.e. poor institutional structure, inadequate disposal site and transfer station, and poor households' solid waste handling practices. Besides, the city households dominantly created decomposable solid wastes (60%) through generation amount of 0.45 kg/person/day and the main source are residential wastes, which account for 76% of the total waste. The sudy concluded that, the main problem with the incompetence of this sector in the city was the lack of trained labor and inadequate service delivery. In order to improve the status, there should be awareness creation, improvement of the city government, and implementation of an incorporated method to the management of metropolitan solid waste that respects and involves all stakeholders in the metropolis.