Here is the link to the article that James mentioned above:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X08001669

And here is the abstract:

This research focuses on recycling in developing countries as one form of sustainable municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Twenty-three case studies provided municipal solid waste (MSW) generation and recovery rates and composition for compilation and assessment. The average MSW generation rate was 0.77 kg/person/day, with recovery rates from 5–40%. The waste streams of 19 of these case studies consisted of 0–70% recyclables and 17–80% organics.

Qualitative analysis of all 23 case studies identified barriers or incentives to recycling, which resulted in the development of factors influencing recycling of MSW in developing countries. The factors are government policy, government finances, waste characterization, waste collection and segregation, household education, household economics, MSWM (municipal solid waste management) administration, MSWM personnel education, MSWM plan, local recycled-material market, technological and human resources, and land availability.

Necessary and beneficial relationships drawn among these factors revealed the collaborative nature of sustainable MSWM. The functionality of the factor relationships greatly influenced the success of sustainable MSWM. A correlation existed between stakeholder involvement and the three dimensions of sustainability: environment, society, and economy. The only factors driven by all three dimensions (waste collection and segregation, MSWM plan, and local recycled-material market) were those requiring the greatest collaboration with other factors.

The article itself is behind a paywall. Some authors are comfortable with posting it on the forum for a short time so that those who have subscribed to this thread and have a SuSanA login can download it. Others don't want to do it this way (it's a bit of a grey zone with regards to copyright). In that case James might send the pdf file to you if you e-mail him directly.

Regards,
Elisabeth

P.S. Welcome to the forum, James!

Hello, can I get a copy of the article


Regards
Dannis Omondi

Several years ago we published a paper that used a qualitative analysis of 23 case studies to identify barriers or incentives to recycling, which resulted in the development of factors influencing recycling of municipal solid waste (MSW) in developing countries. The factors were government policy, government finances, waste characterization, waste collection and segregation, household education, household economics, MSWM (municipal solid waste management) administration, MSWM personnel education, MSWM plan, local recycled-material market, technological and human resources, and land availability. Necessary and beneficial relationships drawn among these factors revealed the collaborative nature of sustainable MSWM. The functionality of the factor relationships greatly influenced the success of sustainable MSWM. A correlation existed between stakeholder involvement and the three dimensions of sustainability: environment, society, and economy. The only factors driven by all three dimensions (waste collection and segregation, MSWM plan, and local recycled-material market) were those requiring the greatest collaboration with other factors.

This is the reference, let me know if you need more information, Troschinetz, A.M., Mihelcic, J.R. (2009). “Sustainable Recycling of Municipal Solid Waste in Developing Countries,” Waste Management, 29(2): 915-923.

James Mihelcic, University of South Florida

Wanted to share a few really excellent resources I have come across recently.

First, there are a couple of small start-ups in India and Nepal which have been doing really fantastic work to improve the system for separation of waste at source (at home and in small businesses), and collection services for that separated waste. The most effective way of doing this seems to be to capitalise on the existing informal sector and its connections to waste value chains (buyers of plastic, metal, etc.).

I don't have any connection to these organisations, so don't have a vested interest, but found what they are doing really inspiring:
www.kabadiwallaconnect.in/
khaalisisi.com/

Both of these use new bits of digital technology, but I'm sure that simpler systems can also be worked out which encourage and incentivise people to separate their waste at source.

The key seems to be to make it easy and to make it worth it for the customer

Very interesting article. Waste has become a public health issue especially in the cities and surrounding township areas. Factors contributing to this problem include rapid urbanization, informal settlements, overcrowding, uncontrolled waste management, failing waste systems, etc. Communities have come to see no wrong doing in dumping waste in any open or vacant pieces of land and the municipalities on the other hand are unable to cope with the situation. The outcome of this problem has culminated in the attraction and habitats of vectors of diseases such as flies, cockroaches, rodents, mosquitoes etc. It is disheartening to see children playing on the dumped waste accumulations causing many of the unrecorded incidents of diarrhoel diseases, morbidity and mortality among poor communities. What is the solution? We need organizations such as My trash, My Treasure. With decades of experience as an environmental health practitioner (now retired) I see the state of our environment deteriorating at an alarming pace exposing millions of us to health risks an diseases. How does one become a member of your organization? or start a community project on waste management based on your waste management model? Lucas Kunene

Hello,

The UK charity WasteAid has some excellent ideas on setting up community recycling projects and a very useful Toolkit with practical "how to" guides: wasteaid.org/toolkit/

Oliver Priestley-Leach

Dear Elisabeth,

Thank you for your recommendation and inputs regarding the challenges faced in solid waste management.

Regards,

Dear Beda,

If you have an interest in solid waste management and recycling then I recommend to you that you go to this sub-category on the forum which deals with solid waste management:
forum.susana.org/208-solid-waste-management

In those forum threads (they span over two pages by now) you'll find many ideas about current topics and approaches.

In general, there should be incentives created - why should people recycle? e.g. in Germany the fees that household have to pay for general rubbish collection are fairly high. Wild rubbish dumping is policed quite strictly (although it still takes place e.g. with discarded furniture, strangely). But the green bins that collect paper and cardboard, or the brown bins that collect garden and kitchen waste, or the yellow bins that collect plastic waste are collected for a lower fee or free of charge. Hence there is an incentives at the household level to keep your recyclables out of the general waste bin to save space. - Overall, I think you have to make it easy and convenient for people to recycle and to provide financial incentives, if possible.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Hello everyone!

Any idea where I can find publications on solid waste management, focusing on encouraging environmental consciousness by improving people’s attitudes towards and increasing participation mainly in recycling?

Many thanks in advance,