The 3W approach: WASTE.

Publication language
English
Pages
15pp
Date published
01 Oct 2015
Type
Research, reports and studies
Keywords
Urban, Water, sanitation and hygiene

Waste is unavoidable; produced by all in every society. From the days of primitive society, human and animals
have used the resources of the earth to support life and dispose of theirs wastes. (Bortoleto et al.).
For most people in the developed world, access to basic services like water, sanitation and waste collection is a
given. The situation is considerably different in developing countries where access to waste collection services
remains sporadic and unequal, particularly in urban context where the proximity to services does not
necessarily mean access, and where the urban poor continue to be excluded because of political, social or
economic factors.
Increased urbanization coupled with changing consumption patterns have left many governments in
developing cities unable to cope, and struggling to provide adequate services for municipal solid waste
management. Typically one to two thirds of the solid waste generated is not collected in the rapid urbanizing
cities of the developing world (Zurbrügg, 2003). The impact of inadequate waste collection and disposal
services include environmental degradation, financial losses and negative health outcomes – the impacts are
felt disproportionately by children and the most vulnerable.