Research, Design And Implementation Of Sustainable Technologies For Municipal Solid Waste Management In An East African City: The Case Of Hargeisa, Somaliland

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The activities conducted for the improvement of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Hargeisa City, Somaliland capital city, are described hereafter. CeTAmb has been carrying on a study for the improvement of collection, recycling and disposal of MSW in Northern Somalia since 2005. The study was initially performed in collaboration with UNA Consortium within " Somalia Urban Development Programme (SUDP) " from 2005 to September 2008 and then continued together with Cesvi NGO in the " Support to improved service delivery in Somali cities (SISDISC) " project. At the beginning of the project, solid waste management in the city was largely inadequate; so, several actions were planned in order to improve the service, with positive consequences also for public health and well-being. According to data provided by the municipality, 223 t/d waste are produced by 650,000 inhabitants in Hargeisa. Two local NGOs are charged of waste collection. The two NGOs are working in two different areas of the town, performing door to door primary collection by means of donkey carts or trucks, where streets dimensions allow this second practice. The construction of transfer stations where wastes are temporarily stored, waiting for the transportation to the two Hargeisa dumpsites, has started since July 2008. Nowadays, eight out of the twenty foreseen transfer stations have been built, but they were often constructed not according to the original project, that aimed at guaranteeing their technical sustainability and acceptability by local population. Even so, only some areas of the city are currently covered by solid waste collection service and less than 15% of produced wastes are collected. Moreover, plastic and paper waste recycling were taken into consideration for their possible implementation in Hargeisa City. These fractions are relevant in Hargeisa waste composition, respectively representing 16% and 20% of the total waste, as established by conducted composition analyses. Moreover, the set up of recycling activities could provide many opportunities for employment, for example thanks to the involvement of local NGOs, and reduce environmental problems, such as the spread of plastic bags. As mentioned above, collected wastes are transported to two municipal dumpsites. Northern dumpsite is located 17 km far from the city and used by one LNGO, whereas Southern dumpsite is located 7 km far from the city and used by the other one. Designs for the shifting of these two dumpsites to sanitary landfills were elaborated and works for the upgrade of …