Waste management does not have a linear solution

Waste management is mainly a people problem. We generate the waste, dump it carelessly and wait for someone to take away from drainages. When drainages get clogged by the waste and rainy water come into our homes, we have someone to blame. We hardly problematise waste management as our issue. Our accusing fingers point at someone else.

People problems require people oriented solutions. Behaviour change matters in winning the waste management problem. Scholarly reasoning will tell you to invest in attitude-behaviour-approach to realis
e good waste management practices. I don’t want to get into theoretical abstracts. I will be as simple as possible because environmental problems are complex and solutions lost in jargon in most cases. I do not want to be caught into the technical jargon.

Our waste management approach should be towards changing lifestyles at household, community and national level. Who will pick the waste in homes where the Vice President does not come to clean up on a good day of the month? What happens to the waste in compounds where such national events do not include? A systematic approach is required when dealing with complex environmental issues.

We can ask ourselves, does publicity alone result into sustainable waste management in townships? What barriers affect waste management? How do we build support for those barriers? Is it the municipality alone to manage waste? Do we have appropriate facilities for waste management? Where are the gaps in sustainable waste management? How do we fill in those gaps?

Out of disappointment when I drove through Mtendere one morning in 2012 and found heaps of waste bags blocking the road, I went there to understand people’s reasoning. I did a research focused on “problematisation of waste management in townships” – Mtendere Township was my research area.

I learnt a lot from CBEs (community based enterprises), households and Lusaka City Council (LCC). Each other raised very critical issues that made waste management problematic.  For example:

1) households were against the CBEs collecting waste at a fee. They expected the council (LCC) to do so as the cost was covered under land rates. They argued that they paid land rates and a fee was waste collection was embedded in there in the past. When it was removed and packaged as Polluter's Pay Principle (PPP) was not known to them. They were very upset with the LCC.

2) Prioritisation of food versus paying for waste. With hardships, a K50 - 70 payment for waste could be used for a meal. Some households saw a small mealie meal packet,  kapenta, tomato, cooking oil (small packet), vegetable, salt, etc. that amount. The amount could see their children eat. Poverty is having a huge toil on Polluter's Pay Principle (PPP) i.e. survival versus paying for garbage.

3) Mindset of households is another problem as some people do not think it is their role to pay for waste. People went at length ranting how the LCC was allowing waste to be littered all over their townships. In some cases, they mocked LCC staff when they go to pick waste bins in these compounds. Most of them have no sense of responsibility in waste collection. Their role is to generate the waste and let the LCC collect. Mindset change in waste management create ownership in managing waste is very critical. This cannot be done by monthly waste cleaning and informational campaigns. A comprehensive behavioural change programme is required.

4) Lack of knowledge about changes in law from paying for waste under land/property rates to Polluter's Pay Principle. Most households think it is a duplication of payment because they believe the amount included for waste collection to the land/property rates is still there to those rates. Lack of knowledge also has to do with some people not connecting their bad waste managementt and climate change/environmental damage. They mainly realise when cholera/diarrhea disease breaks. But they have a vague idea how waste/garbage contributes to diarrheal disease outbreaks.

A total change in approach is needed. Some solutions could include:

1) Investing in waste facilities in compounds. Some places have no place to put waste bins as there are structures everywhere. The waste facilities should provide for separation of waste in terms of paper, plastic, etc.

The waste facilities should be positioned in CBDs (Central Business Districts) for people to put waste in right places. Without appropriate facilities, where do we expect the people to drop their waste? Those that deliberately throw waste anyhow should be made pick it and put it where it should be by anyone of us and the municipality staff who work in these CBDs either collecting levies and other duties. We all have a responsibility to safeguarg the environment.  

2) Inculcate mindset of paying for our waste and mindset to put waste in designated facilities. We need to create nexus in our communication of how bad waste practice leads to different environmental impacts. People should be helped visualise and know how their actions can minimise their footprint on their environment by practicing sustainable lifestyles such as taking smart actions in waste management like eat, dispose in the bin, pay for collection, reduce waste generation, and others.

3) Incentivise waste management. This could be, for instance, recycling companies paying households that appropriately separate waste to reuse/recycling. That waste becomes resource in the production value chain of recycling companies. Some people may adopt pro-environmental waste management practices to earn income out of their practice. Whereas some people will do it for monetary gain, a sustainable lifestyle maybe built in children who will see the practice as a good way of living sustainably.

4) Creating smart/green centres in townships where people can separate and deposit their waste for recycling companies' use. People can be employed to weigh and record depositors of well separated waste per week/month for possible monetary rewarding by recycling companies for the resource they are providing for their production systems.

5) Councils establishing waste smart/green centres on public private partnership basis with recycling companies who will use the appropriately separated waste in their value chain. Can CDF be invested in creating smart centres for waste management? How will the ideal smart/green centres look like? We have planners who should do their job for the beauty of our cities and the environment.

 6) Introducing green skills in school systems for learner's to acquire relevant sustainable skills. For example, for waste segregation and recycling at micro, small and medium scales to feed into large scale recycling processes. What kind of green skills are required in the waste recycling value chain? We can start imparting green skills and knowledge in children for the betterment of our environment.

7) Providing incentives to recycling companies. These could include tax exemptions, rebates and others to attract more companies on recycling or implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) of their packaging materials after use by customers. The companies under the EPR can build deposit centres of their packages by customers for reuse/recycling.

These companies have financial muscles to buy houses in compounds compared to CBEs to ensure waste is separated and placed in appropriate bins/waste deposit facilities. Imagine people indiscriminately throwing waste finding appropriate waste facilities on open spaces where they do it.....the facilities could be mobile of permanent.

I am suggesting that we become more systematic in our waste management approaches. Our approaches  could speaks to 1) building waste management facilities for sorting/separating waste 2) mindset change on waste management to create a sense of ownership of waste management by every household, 3) investing in recycling skills and infrastructure 4) EPR enhancement and monitoring, among others.

Municipalities need fully functioning waste management units with reliable waste trucks to collect waste from designated waste depository facilities. Each market has council staff collecting levies, they should also deal with waste mgt. Blaming vendors and periodic cleanups are not sustainable. What the Vice President or the President does going to clean on certain days is good for publicity but NOT for sustainable waste management. We need a comprehensive approach that brings many actors into play thru a collective responsibility mechanism. People should be mentored into taking it upon themselves.

CHARCOAL consumption, climate change and investment in our energy mix

As the country plans to ban charcoal by 2026 as part climate change mitigation actions, WWF estimates show that our charcoal consumption is at an alarming 4 million tonnes annually. Lusaka accounts for 1.6 million (40%) tonnes of that consumption. Urbanites are the major users of charcoal as truckloads of the commodity head to these towns everyday. 

Zambia Statistical Agency (ZamStat) highlights that 54.3% households in the country use firewood, 28.7% use charcoal and only 16.8% use electricity for cooking. In terms of rurality usage, 81% of households use firewood for their cooking. This shows the amount of pressure on forests for our energy sustainance. Trees are either cut for firewood or turned into charcoal at a larger scale to meet our energy needs. 

Our demand for charcoal results into 250-300, 000 hectares of forest loss yearly. Power outages exacerbate the cutting of trees for charcoal. The charcoal economy revolves around charcoal banners, transporters, charcoal sellers and consumers/users. Each of these clusters contribute to the destruction of our biodiversity, which accelerates climate change. 

Inadequate alternative sources of energy push the demand for charcoal higher. Our energy mix requires massive investment and adoption for our forests to be safeguarded. We risk creating massive desserts due to endless large cutting of trees for charcoal burning to meet the demand for the product. 

The cost of alternative sources of energy is not helping in adopting alternative sources of energy. Removal of duty and tax on solar products did not helped in making these energy sources more affordable by the majority. Solar energy has thus remained the preserve of the wellup in society. 

A simple solar system for lighting costs a fortune for majority citizens. For example, a solar panel for 300w is around K2, 500 whilst the batteries are around K5, 500 each. An inverter around K2, 500. This is a huge budget for most households.

Whatever efforts have been put into making solar energy systems affordable by removing duty/VAT have not helped. More should be done to reduce the cost for most citizens to afford solar energy for their usage. Mindset change activities are also required to increase adoption of sustainable energy solutions. Some households treasure charcoal so much they want to stick to it for cooking beans, offals, animal hooves and boiling dry fish. There are arguments that dry fish/beans tastes better when prepared on charcoal. The ennvironmental implications of getting the charcoal are often not factored into the thinking metrics.

Environmental issues are often distant from many people's minds. Some think climate change is an alien issue coined by others to champion something they do not understand what it is really. Yet we have seen our rainfall pattern reducing from about 6 months to half (3 months) or less. We are falling on each other to plant early maturing seedings for example maize to fit into the new rainfall pattern. We have seen increasing in heatwaves and extremely cold weather patterns depending on where we live, which signify changes in the climate.

 However much we distance ourselves from realities of climate change, the loss o trees speaks volumes about depleting natural foods like mopani words, mushrooms, honey and others. When it comes to energy, we need adequate investment into our energy mix to ensure we have adequate clean energy and win off majority citizens from charcoal. Rural electrification should be enhanced and connection fees made affordable as a strategic step to shade off charcoal users. Mitigating climate change calls for collective, deliberate and pragmatic actions to actualize eco-friendly behaviours and lifestyles. 

Investment in solar farms, wind energy and additional hydropower stations in the northern region where rains are mor intense would help increase our energy capacity to supply every household and industries. Independent power producers require favourable conditions to attract them into the energy sector. 

What happens to those who survive on the charcoal economy? Do we throw them under the bridge? Deliberate strategies are needed to integrate them into the green energy mix. For example, smart energy solutions wisdom recommends creating value chains where charcoal banners, transporters and sellers can be fitted for sustainable weaning them off charcoal.

In areas where cooking pellets are used as an alternative source of energy, charcoal banners can be suppliers of raw materials in pellets making such as groundnut shells, maize stock shells, shrub growing (silviculture) for pellet making or grass supplier to makers of pellets. Transporters and sellers of charcoal can become part of the value chain and earn a living. 

Biodigester making can bring into the economy a number of players. These would include dry cow dung suppliers, transporters and sellers to household biodigester users for energy. The alternative energy system can create an entry point for everyone to earn a living without being left behind. We cannot bury our heads in the sand anymore whilst forests are lost to the charcoal economy. One day we will wake up being a desert. Rains will be hard to see as trappers of clouds will be gone as charcoal for our cooking needs.

Our ecosystem is a living being that requires protection for it to sustain our lives. What we give our environment determines what it is able to give us in return. When we distablize our environment, it fails to meet our needs for us to live a good life. It will nolonger supply us with fresh air, natural herbs and foods, underground water, rains and other life supporting requirements. We cannot do without environmental protection. We must act now before it is completely too late. 

Our dam (Kariba) is already failing to supply us with enough water to generate power throughout the year due to poor rains recorded some rainy seasons. Climate change has contributed to low rainfall recorded over the years in the country. Loss forests are contributors to poor rainfall. More loss of the forests entails more rainfall challenges ahead.  

Human actions largely contribute to climate change in many ways such as loss of water recharge points as we cut or change use of forests, loss of water catchment areas for our sources of water or loss of trees for rains. By simple explanation, when trees transpire, they add moisture to the air, which makes the air saturated faster to bring rains. Without trees, rainfall stability is not assured. Caterpillars and honey will be equally lost without trees. Nature and humans require stable co-existence for our good. 

#ClimateChange #HumanActions #ClimateChangeMitigation