Planning for sustainable municipal solid waste management
Practical Action
Metals
Plastic
Glass
Moisture content
Less than 1%
Less than 1%
Less than 1%
High
10%
2%
10%
Low
Before embarking on waste characterisation studies, check for existing survey data.
Developing action plans
Sustainable SWM cannot be achieved through isolated approaches, for example by a number of
isolated projects, or applying technology or awareness raising alone. Action plans ideally contain
a range of activities: some which are easy and simple to undertake in the short-term, as well as
activities which contribute to longer-term goals and which require considerable time, effort and
investment. Short and long-term activities should complement one another.
Goals and indicators
Achieving 'perfect' solid waste management is a challenging goal, and achieved by few - if any -
municipalities around the world. It is often more helpful to develop a ‘roadmap’ consisting of
incremental goals and indicators (i.e. ways of measuring performance) to achieve long-term
improvements to SWM. Positive change relies not only on hardware investments and systems
design, but also mindsets and behaviour. These can take time to change.
Practically, this means you may choose to define a series of goals. For example:
Short-term goals: to achieve minimum standards, i.e. collect all waste from streets and
make minor improvements to disposal facilities (6 months);
Medium-term: improve resource recovery and recycling, and improve the quality of the
disposal facilities with basic leachate treatment and compaction (2 years);
Long-term: achieve 100% source separation of waste, and develop sanitary landfill (5
years).
There are a number of ways of developing action plans. One is to draw up a table listing the
various functions (e.g. primary collection, recycling, transportation, disposal etc.) and for each
function outline the present situation and the goals (including intermediate goals), and then
devise a plan for achieving this. At this point you should also identify opportunities, threats,
budget requirements and set target dates. Table 2 shows the possible column headings for this
process.
Table 2: example strategic plan development
Function Goals
Action plan
Opportunities Threats
Disposal
1. Meet
minimum
standards
2. Medium
term goal
3. Long-
term goal
1. Compact
and cover
waste
2. Stop all
waste burning
3. etc.
- Vehicles
available from
other
municipal
department
- Waste
pickers
- Unco-
operative
workforce
Budget
$##.##
Target
date
+ 6 months
+1 year
+3 years
Sustainable solid waste management options
Generation and primary storage
Why is planning this important? Waste generators are important stakeholders in SWM. The
success of SWM systems depend on the crucial support and co-operation of householders,
businesses and markets etc. Planning can ensure systems meet their needs.
Understanding and gaining the support of waste generators, including households, shops and
businesses, is vital but frequently overlooked. Key planning questions include:
What are the present behaviours, perceptions and attitudes?
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