Characterisation and quantification of municipal solid waste as a measure towards effective solid waste management: a case study of Arua central market.

Abstract

Waste is an unavoidable consequence of socio-economic and institutional activities, and will always be generated as long as humans exist. Therefore, the focus in waste management is ensuring effective management of the waste to minimize its impact on the environment. Research has emphasized that effective management of solid waste requires a clear understanding of the waste characteristics and volumes. This study aimed to characterize and quantify MSW, assess MSW management methods, practices and examine the challenges in Arua Central Market. The data collection involved field measurements for one week to quantify and a cross-sectional survey in which several key informants were interviewed to assess the management and challenges of MSW, based on review of literature on characterization and management of solid waste. Analysis demonstrated that the lion’s share of the waste generated by the market is biodegradable with 90.31% organic and 1.32% paper. Non-biodegradable comprised of 6.89% plastic, 0.83% textiles, 0.48% rubber and leather and others. Waste disposal was made more difficult by the composting plant's non-operational state, stressing the need for revival. The study also revealed significant challenges, including inadequate waste separation, vendor noncompliance, scarcity of collection bins, and delays in waste collection. The results indicate that a very high proportion of wastes from this market have potential to be converted to biomass energy or compost manure and thus highlights the need for further studies in the biomass energy potential and chemical composition of organic waste from this market. There is proper management of the market’s solid waste within the market and during transportation but waste disposal is very poor. On this basis, it is recommended that Arua central division revamps its compost plant fully to compost the organic waste from this market into manure. Alternatively, the market alone starts its compost plant or a biogas plant to generate methane from this waste. Further research is needed to characterize MSW for the entire city and seek the willingness of residents towards sorting wastes.