ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

ASSESSMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

SERVICE IN DESSIE TOWN

BY: SOLOMON

CHERU

JUNE, 2011

ADDIS ABABA
 ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

ASSESSMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

SERVICE IN DESSIE TOWN

A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa

University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies

BY: SOLOMON

CHERU

ADVISOR: YIRGALEM MAHITEME (Dr.)

JUNE, 2011

ADDIS ABABA
 ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

ASSESSMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

SERVICE IN DESSIE TOWN

BY:

SOLOMON CHERU

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS SIGNATURE

DEPARTMENT’S CHAIRMAN

ADVISOR

INTERNAL EXAMINER
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My first and foremost gratitude is forwarded to my advisor Dr. Yirgalem Mahiteme for his critical
comments, corrections, assistance and encouragement in the preparation of this research paper.
Next, my heart full thanks goes to my enumerators that assist me during the field work in data
collection and gave me electronic media for recording and photographing purposes.

I would also like to offer my sincere gratitude to Ato Eneyew, head of Dessie town sanitation,
beautification and parks development department, for his willingness and patience in replying to the
interviews and allow accessing of secondary data. In addition, I would like to express my
appreciation and thanks to workers of sanitation, beautification, and parks development department
and all respondents who were kind to cooperation and willing to give genuine information for
preparation of the main body of this study. Lastly, I would like to address my deepest thanks to my
friends and parents for their moral and material support.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Contents page number

Acknowledgment
………………………………………………………………………………...……ii
Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………………………………..ii
List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………………………...ii
List of Maps ………………………………………………………………………………………....ii
List of Pictures ……………………………………………………………………………………....ii
List of Figures …………………...………………………………………………………….……… ii
List of Acronyms …………………………………………………………………………….….........ii
Definition of Terms …………...……………………………………….…………………….……..... ii
Abstract ………………………………………………………………...……………………………. ii

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………...................................1

1.1 Background of the Study ………………………………………………………………................1

1.2 Statement of the Problem ……………………………………………………………...………….3

1.3 Objectives of the Study ……………………………………………………………………….......4

1.4 Research Questions ……………………………………………………………………….............5

1.5 Significance of the Study….............................................................................................................5

1.6 Research Methodology and Sampling Procedures ……………………………………….............5

1.6.1 Research Design …………………………………………………………………………......5

1.6.2 Data Source and Method of Collection ……………………………………………………...5

1.6.3 Sampling Procedures and Sample Size ……………………………………………………...6

1.6.4 Method of Data Analysis …………………………………………………………………....9

l. 7 Limitation of the Study ……………………………………………………………………...........9

1.8 Delimitation of the Study ………………………………………………………………………....9

ii
1.9 Organization of the Thesis …………………………………….……………………………….....9

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF LITERATURE …………………………………………………………………......11

2.1 Concepts of Municipal Solid Waste Management………...…………………………...…….......11

2.1.1 Definitions of Key Terms…..................................................................................................11

2.1.2 Sources and Types of Municipal Solid Waste …..................................................................11

2.1.3 Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste …………………………………………….........12

2.1.4 Functional Elements of Municipal Solid Waste Management ………………………….....14

2.1.4.1 Waste Generation …................................................................................................14

2.1.4.2 On site Handling, Storage and Processing ………………………………………..14

2.1.4.3 Collection …………………………………………...…………………………….15

2.1.4.4 Transfer and Transport ………………………………………………………........16

2.1.4.5 Processing and Recovery ………………………………………………………....16

2.1.4.6 Disposal …………………………………………………………………………...17

2.1.5 Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management

Methods ………………………………..............................................................................17

2.1.5.1Incineration…………………………………………………………………………17

2.1.5.2Composting………………………………………………………………………...18

2.1.5.3 Reuse and Recycle…………………………………………………………….......19

2.1.6 Institutional Aspect of Municipal Solid Waste Management Service……………………...20

2.1.6.1 Relationship between Institutional Structures and Municipal Solid Waste

Management………………………………………………………………………...20

2.1.6.2 Relationship between Institutional Capacity and Provision of Municipal Solid

Waste Management..................................................................................................21

2.2 Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries………………………………....23

2.2.1 Constraints of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries ………......24

3
 2.2.1.1 Human and Technical constraints …………………………………………….....24

2.2.1.2 Financial Constraints …........................................................................................25

2.2.1.3 Institutional Constraints ………………………………………………………....25

2.2.1.5 Social Constraints ….............................................................................................25

2.2.1.6 Awareness and Attitudes ……………………………………………………….. 26

2.2.2 Municipal Solid Waste Management in Ethiopia ……...………………………………….26

CHAPTER THREE

BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY AREA …...............................................................................28

3.1 Historical Background of Dessie Town ………………………………………………………....28

3.2 Physical Background of Dessie Town……………………………………………………….......29

3.3 Socio-Economic Background of Dessie Town…………………………………………………..31

3.3.1 Demographic Characteristics …...........................................................................................31

3.3.2 Settlement Pattern and Housing Condition….......................................................................31

3.3.3 Social and Physical Infrastructures ………………………………………………………..32

3.3.4 Economic Activities of Dessie Town ……………………………………………………..33

CHAPTER FOUR

ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT STATUS AND SPATIAL COVERAGE OF MUNCIPAL

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICE OF DESSIE TOWN…………………………....34

4.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………...34

4.2 Socio Economic and Demographic Characteristics of Sample Households ………………….....34

4.3 Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste of Dessie Town ……………………………………..36

4.3.1 Municipal Solid Waste Sources and Their Solid Waste Generation ………………….......36

4.3.2 Composition of Municipal Solid Waste ….……………………………..…………………39

4.4 Solid Waste Storage Facility and Its Handling in Dessie Town…………………………............41

4.4.1 Primary Solid Waste Storage Facility and Its Handling …..................................................42

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 4.4.2 Secondary Solid Waste Storage Facilities and Their Handling…………………………....44

4.5 Solid Waste Separation, Processing and Recovery Activities in Dessie Town …........................48
4.5.1 Solid Waste Separation, Processing and Recovery Activities of Households…………...…48
4.5.2 Solid Waste Separation, Processing and Recovery Activities by Sanitation,

Beautification and Parks Development Department …………………………………….....50

4.6 Solid Waste Collection and Transportation in Dessie Town ……………………………...…….51

4.6.1 Door to Door Solid Waste Collection and Transportation Systems ………………….....51

4.6.2 Collection and Transportation of Solid Waste from Transfer Stations ……………..…….55
4.7 Street Sweeping Activity in Dessie Town ……………...……………………………………….56

4.8 Solid Waste Disposal Practices in Dessie Town…………………….………..…………………57

4.8.1 Households’ Solid Waste Disposal Practices ……………………………….……….........57

4.8.2 Existing Situation and Management of Solid Waste Disposal Site ………………….……62

4.9 Institutional Arrangement and Capacity of Municipal Solid Waste Management Service of

Dessie Town…………………………….…………………………………………………….....64

4.9.1Organizational Structure of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department …64

4.9.2 Strategic Goal and Objectives of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development

Department …................................................................................................................................66

4.9.3 Institutional Mandate of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department ……67

4.9.4Rules and Regulations of Municipal Solid Waste Management and Its Status of Enforcement.67

4.9.5Inter organization Linkage of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department..68

4.9.6 Effort of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department to Participate Different

Stakeholders on MSWM …...........................................................................................................69

4.9.7 Institutional Capacity of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department …....71

4.9.7.1 Human Resource Capacity of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development

Department ……………………………………………………………………………….....71

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 4.9.7.2 Financial Resource Capacity of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development

Department ……………………………………………………………………………........73

4.9.7.3 Municipal Solid Waste Management Equipments ………..…………………………77

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……………………………………………………...79

5.1 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………….....79

5.2 Recommendations ……………………………………………………………………………………....82

References

Appendixes

6
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: percentages of uncollected solid waste major towns of Ethiopia……………………….....2

Table 1.2: Kebelle specific proposed number of sample households ………………………….……..8

Table 2.1: Advantage and disadvantage of incineration…………………………………………......18

Table 4.1: Socio economic and demographic characteristics of respondents …………………….....35

Table 4.2: Major solid waste sources and their daily and annual generation in 2011 ...………….....37

Table 4.3: Solid waste generation rate of households in 2011 ……………………………………...38

Table 4.4: Composition of residential solid waste in 2011………………………………………......41

Table 4.5: Overall characteristics of MSSE solid waste collectors in 2011…………………………52

Table 4.6 Dessie town administration health office 20 top disease in 2009………………………....59

Table 4.7 Households’ choice of methods to receive education on solid waste management….…...51

Table 4.8 List of organizations and their expected aspect of involvement in solid waste

management……………………………………………………………………………....69

Table 4.9 SBPDD existing human resources and required number of workers related with solid
waste management task………………………………………………...……………..…...72

Table 4.10 Total budget of SBPDD compared to total budget of municipality ………………….....74

Table 4.11 Solid waste management related 2010 plan of SBPDD ………………………………..75
Table 4.12 Solid waste management related five year (2011-2015) plan projects ……………….....76

Table 4.13: Amount of employees and vehicle related expenses of solid waste management service

in the year 2010………………………………….…………………………………...…...78

LIST OF MAPS

Map 3.1: Location of Dessie town in Amhara National Regional State of Ethiopia…………...……30

Map 4.1: Kebelle specific distributions of solid waste transfer stations of Dessie town ………...….47

vii
 LIST OF PICTURES

Picture 4.1: Partial view of daily household solid waste generation and composition measurement.36

Picture 4.2: Partial view of biodegradable and non biodegradable solid wastes………………….....39

Picture 4.3: Partial view of medical solid wastes ………………………………………………...…40

Picture 4.4: Partial view of solid waste storage materials of households …………………….……..43

Picture 4.5: Typical solid wastes transfer stations and their respective users (MSSE solid waste

collectors) ……………………………………………………………...……………….45

Picture 4.6: Partial view of solid wastes transfer stations which are characterized by indiscriminate

disposal of households……………………....…………………………….…………….46

Picture 4.7: Partial view of households composting activity ……………………………………..…50

Picture 4.8: Partial view of handicrafts recycling activity ……………………………………..……51
Picture 4.9: Partial view of informal sectors illegal solid waste disposal ……...........................……54
Picture 4.10: Partial view of indiscriminately dispose solid wastes in streets …...........................….57

Picture 4.11: Partial view of impacts of improper solid waste disposal …………………………….60

Picture 4.12: Partial view of Membere Tshehay solid waste disposal site ………………....…….…63

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1: Types of primary solid waste storage materials of households ………………………....42

Figure 4.2: Households solid waste disposal practices …..………………………….………………58

Figure 4.3: Dessie town SBPDD organizational structure in 2011………………………………….65

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 LIST OF ACRONYMS

AAU = Addis Ababa University

BPR = Business Process Reengineering
CBOs = Community Based Organizations
FEDO = Finance and Economic Development Office
GPS = Global Positioning System
HH = Household
JICAIIC = Japan International Cooperation Agency Institute for International Cooperation
MoH = Ministry of Health
MSSE = Micro and Small Scale Enterprise
MSW = Municipal Solid Waste
MSWM = Municipal Solid Waste Management
NGOs = Non Governmental Organizations
SBPDD = Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department
UK = United Kingdom
UNCHS = United Nations Center for Human Settlement
UNEP = United Nations Environmental Program
US = United States
WHO = World Health Organization

WP = Work Process

9
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

BPR: The fundamental rethinking and radical design of work process to achieve

dramatic improvements in work.

Case team: A group of experts that work together in one work process.

Household: Persons who live together in one house or dwelling.

Kebelle: The lowest administrative unit in Ethiopia (Zebenay, 2010).

Liwach: A name given to individuals that exchange old shoes and old cloths of the

society by house materials informally through door to door visit

Quraleos: A name which is given to individuals that buy reusable, and recyclable

solid wastes from the society informally through door to door visit.

Sanitation agents: A person employed by the concerned organ to supervise and control over

the illegal disposal solid waste.

Work process: Represents specific departments of an institution that organize to

perform its assigned tasks.

10
 ABSTRACT
This study is aimed at the overall assessment of the existing MSWM service in Dessie town. Besides
this, the study had also specific objectives such as investigation of households’ solid waste
generation rate, physical composition and management practices, the existing status and spatial
coverage of MSWM, and current institutional arrangement and capacity of MSWM service delivery
of the town. In order to accomplish these objectives, the researcher used both primary and
secondary sources. The primary data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews, field
measurement, and field observations. Whereas secondary data were extracted from different
published and unpublished materials. The analysis of this paper was carried out using both
qualitative and quantitative techniques.

The findings of this study revealed that the present system of MSWM in Dessie town entirely relied
on the municipality which provided the full range of waste collection, transportation and disposal
service. But, the provision of this service is not kept in pace with the town solid waste generation.
Based on the findings of this research, the town households’ dominantly produced biodegradable
solid wastes (75.6%) with generation rate of 0.231kg/person/day. This made the daily total solid
waste generation of households to 100.91݉ଷ (37337.223kg). Together with other four solid waste
sources the total daily solid waste generation of the town is about 136.11݉ଷ (50360.7kg) but only
32 ݉ଷ (23.51%) of this is collected and disposed to the town disposal site. So that MSWM of the town
is found in very low status and spatial coverage. This poor status of MSWM is also intensified by
three critical factors. The first one is poor institutional structure and capacity of Sanitation,
Beautification and Parks Development Department. The second shortcoming is limited participation
and contribution of stakeholders’ i.e. unsatisfactory participation of communities, no collaboration
of various CBOs and NGOs, no private sector involvement, very limited contribution of MSSE, solid
waste miners and handcrafts of Dessie town. The third constraint is poor households’ solid waste
management practices resulted from improper handling of solid waste storage materials, low level
of solid waste separation and resource recovery activities, and illegal solid waste disposal system.
Therefore, the best ways that used to tackle the above problems are: execution of sustainable solid
waste management systems (reuse, recycle, composting, and incineration) through awareness
creation and training, improvement of SBPDD institutional structure and capacity, and
implementation of integrated MSWM approach which recognizes and comprises all stakeholders.

11
 CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

th
The rapid urbanization that has been taking place during the 20 century virtually transformed the
world in to communities of cities and towns facing similar challenges on environmental issues in
which most of them have to be addressed at international level (Smith, 2010). Among those
environmental issues solid waste management is a critical one because as long as humans have been
living in settled communities, solid waste generation has been an unavoidable and critical issue both
in developed and developing nations. As a result, solid waste management became a worldwide
agenda at united nation conference on environment and development in Riodejieneiro in 1992 with a
great emphasis on reducing wastes and maximizing environmentally sound waste reuse and
recycling at first step in waste management (UNEP, 1996).

Solid waste management is defined as the collection, transportation, processing, recycling, and
disposal of solid waste materials so as to reduce their effect on health ,environment and aesthetics. It
is highly related with urbanization and industrialization (web page accessed, august 20, 2010 ሻଵ .
For instance in early societies, solid waste management consisted of digging pits and throwing
garbage into them. When cities began to be more concentrated; however, solid waste management
became a serious and complex issue. Houses that did not have room to bury their garbage would
throw it into the streets. In response, many cities started to set up municipal garbage collection
teams which would dispose of unusable garbage. This is mainly because modern societies generate
far more solid waste than early humans ever did. As a result, recent events in major urban
centers both in developed and developing countries have shown that municipal solid waste
management has become
1
a big challenge (web page accessed, august 20, 2010).

In developed countries the daily life of people can generate greater quantity of solid waste than
developing countries, but most parts of developed nations are efficient in handling waste when
compared to developing countries because of their technologically complex, institutionally efficient

1
1
Waste management, Wikipedia free encyclopedia. Retrieved from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/waste-
wanagment) web page accessed, august 20, 2010

2
and cost effective solid waste management systems. On the contrary compared to developed
countries, developing countries produce less per-capita solid waste. But the capacity of developing
countries to collect, process and dispose waste is limited due to inadequate infrastructure, finance,
political instability, inefficient institutional capacity and structure, and low level of awareness. For
example, Sarageldin (1995) and Rushbrook (1999); cited in Solomon (2006) stated that “about 30 to
50 percent of the solid waste produced in urban areas of low income countries as well as poorest
parts of middle-income countries is estimated to be left uncollected.” These situations introduced
numerous discomforts to communities and threaten humans’ health through direct contact,
contamination of water and soil.

Similarly, the current condition of municipal solid waste management service in different towns of
Ethiopia is also becoming a challenge for municipalities. For instance, according to Birke’s (1999)
cited in Degnet (2003) study of municipal solid waste management practices of 15 regional cities of
Ethiopia, a controlled solid waste disposal system was practiced in only two of them. That means
small proportions of the urban dwellers are served and a large quantity of solid waste left
uncollected. In addition, a study conducted by (MoH, 1996) cited in Gebrie (2009) revealed
percentage of solid wastes which are left uncollected and disposed anywhere without due attention
regarding their consequences in different towns of Ethiopia.

Table 1.1 percentages of uncollected solid waste major towns of Ethiopia.

Town Percentage of uncollected solid wastes

Jijiga 82

Hawassa 75

Dessie 70

Dire dawa 63

Jimma 63

Harar 53

Mekele 52

Addis Ababa 32

3
As it is indicated in table 1.1, from major towns of Ethiopia Dessie is one of the town by which
proper provision of solid waste management services is still unsatisfactory and in complete. In
Dessie, illegal dumping of waste on open areas, in gullies, river courses is considered as routine task
of residents. The efforts made by the municipality to change the situation in the town are also
insufficient as it compared to the extent of the problem. Therefore, in order to reduce this situation
and achieve efficient solid waste management system of the town, detail study of the existing
condition of municipal solid waste management service is required.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Dessie town is characterized by rapid population growth caused by natural increase and migration.
According to 1994 national census report, the town had 97,314 total populations while in 2007
national census it reached 151,094 with growth rate of 3.38%/annum. Such rapid increase in
population together with rapid development of the town has produced increasing volumes of solid
waste and in turn it induced greater infrastructural demand, institutional setup and community
participation for its management. But, the town sanitation, beautification and parks development
department (SBPDD) which runs the solid waste management activities of the town could not fulfill
the above requirements. For instance, currently SBPDD has practice its activity by supplying one
truck for collection, transportation and disposal of the town solid waste. In addition to this, there are
no public solid waste storage containers and road side dust bins. So that it highly suffered from
shortage of solid waste management infrastructures and faced unmatched burdens of collection,
transportation and disposal of solid wastes. Furthermore, SBPDD is surrounded by different
institutional constraints such as lack of sufficient manpower, weak financial and material resource,
weak regulation and controlling mechanism, and insignificant movement for public awareness
creation.

These limitations led to deterioration of the town environment and also reinforce incorrect disposal
habits to the people. Most of solid wastes that are generated in the town remain uncollected and
simply dumped in open areas, road sides, river courses, gullies. According to the report made by
SBPDD of Dessie town in 2010, the total solid waste generated in 2010 is estimated to be 32188 ݉ଷ .

4
From this amount only 11569 ݉ଷ (36%) of solid wastes were collected and disposed but the
remaining large proportion of the solid wastes (64%) were left uncollected. The disposal method that
the town used is also open dumping type which widely practiced in many developing countries and
has hazardous effect on health and the environment. Besides this, SBPDD of the town does not
operate any waste recovery or recycling activity.

As a result, municipal solid waste management in Dessie has not been carried out in a sufficient and
proper manner. The environmental and sanitary conditions of the town have become more serious
from time to time, and people are suffering from living in such conditions. So that urgent need of
efficient MSWM on one hand and steady growth of solid waste problem on the other side are still
the main features of the town. Detail study of the overall condition of MSWM service should be the
first move required for reducing this gap. Therefore, this study is focused on examining current
status and spatial coverage of municipal solid waste management service of the town and its
institutional arrangement and capacity side by side with household solid waste management.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1. General objective; this study was aimed at assessing the current municipal solid waste
management service of Dessie town.

2. Specific objectives; having the above general objective, the study was geared to attain the
following specific objectives.

I. To investigate the generation rate and physical composition of households solid waste in the
town
II. To evaluate the condition of households solid waste management practices in the town
III. To examine the existing status and spatial coverage of municipal solid waste management
service in the town.
IV. To assess present institutional arrangement and capacity of municipal solid waste
management of the town.

5
1.4 Research Questions

So as to achieve the intended objectives stated above, the following research questions were
formulated.

I. What is the rate of household solid waste generation and physical composition in the town?
II. What is the condition of households’ solid waste management practices in the town?
III. What is the current status and spatial coverage of municipal solid waste management of the
town?
IV. What is the existing institutional arrangement and capacity of municipal solid waste
management of Dessie town?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study may have two main significances. First it may give some guide line information to policy
makers, solid waste managers and environmental protection agencies about existing situation
municipal solid waste management of Dessie town. The study may also important in putting base
line information to the next work who would like to conduct detailed and comprehensive studies
either in Dessie or other study area.

1.6 Research Methodology and Sampling Procedures

1.6.1 Research Design

The research design of this study was explanatory method. Because, it was more appropriate to
describe the existing situation of MSWM service of Dessie town by direct observation of the
researcher and through grasping people and officials’ responses, opinions, and perceptions about
MSWM.

1.6.2 Data Source and Methods of Collection

In this study, the researcher used both primary and secondary data sources. For gathering primary
data researcher employed questionnaires, interviews, field measurement and field observations.

With regard to questionnaires, there were two types of questionnaires (both open and close ended)
which were prepared in order to look the MSWM practices and capacities of the town together with

6
households’ solid waste management activities. These questionnaires were first prepared in English
but later it translated in to Amharic for making it easily understandable to samples. After
preparation, around 30 questionnaires were randomly distributed as pre test in order to correct
unclear and misleading questions. Then all questioners were brought to samples with the help of two
data collectors employed by the writer from Wollo university graduate students with giving training
and under a close supervision of the researcher. Moreover, primary data were also gathered with the
help of semi structured and unstructured interviews with SBPDD head and workers about the overall
institutional setting, capacity and constraints of SBPDD.

Apart from these, the researcher used field observation and field measurement as a major data
sources for this study. Field observation was employed for assessing spatial distribution of MSWM
infrastructures, households’ solid waste handling practices, illegal dumping, solid waste collection
and transportation systems and disposal site facilities of the town. Photographs were taken during
field observation for partial exposure of transfer stations, disposal site, illegal dumping of residents.

While, field measurement was carried out for investigating households’ solid waste generation rate
and physical composition. GPS receiver data was also used for collection of data about spatial
distribution of solid waste transfer stations.

On the other hand, secondary data were extracted from different sources including published and
unpublished materials from administrative office, SBPDD, municipality, finance and economic
development office, and health office of Dessie town.

1.6.3 Sampling Procedures and Sample Size

In order to collect primary data, the researcher used three different sample sizes with different
sampling procedures. In all cases, sample sizes were determined by considering financial, time and
resource constraints.

The first sample size was designed for collection of data from households on their solid waste
management practice, and their attitude towards MSWM practice of the town. For deciding this
sample size and selecting samples, the researcher used three stages. The first stage was classifying16
kebelles of the town in to 3 separate strata namely inner (kebelles close to the center), middle
(kebelles located in the middle distance to the center), and periphery (rural kebelles of the town)

6
based on geographical location, population density and availability of different infrastructures. The
second stage was selecting kebelles that represent those stratums. The researcher selected 6 kebelles,
two from each stratum, using random sampling method. This was mainly because; the writer
believed that those kebelles located in each stratum have homogenous characteristics with respect to
proximity to the center of the town, population density, and availability of infrastructures. As a
result, taking one kebelle from each stratum can be representative.

In third stage, the researcher took a total sample size of 245 households from three sample kebelles
in general. This was decided by using scientific statistical method from (Cochran (1977); cited in
Melaku, 2008). The formula that used for determining sample size was the following.

n=
ே ௓ொ Where n = total sample size
ௗ మ ሺேିଵሻା௓ మ ொ

N = Total number of sample households (sample frame i.e. 16321 in Table 1.1)

Z = standard normal deviation at the required confidence level that corresponds to 95% confidence
interval equal to 1.96

d = the level of statistical significance (Allowable error) (0.05)

P = the proportion in the targeted population estimated to have characteristics being measured
(from previous studies or studies in other comparable countries i.e. 0.8 from Melaku, 2008)
Q = 1-p i.e.1െ0.8 = 0.2
మொ
ே௓ మ ଵଷଵ
଴଴ଷଵ.଼ହ଼
଴଴ହ଼
ଵଷଶଵ൫ଵ
଺ଷଶଵ൫ଵ.ଽ଺ ൯ൈ ଴.మ ሺ ሻ
଼ ሺ଴.ଶሻ
n = ௗమ ሺேିଵሻା = =
ሺ଴.଴ହሻమ ሺଵଷଶଵି ଵ ሻାሺଵ.ଽ଺ ሻ ሺ଴.଼ሻሺ଴.ଶሻ
଺ଷଶଵିଵ
ସଵ.ସଵସହ ଺ହ଺
= 244.2282725 = 245
௓మ ொ

Therefore, n = 245 was the minimum sample size of households for reliable results. Finally, by using
proportional allocation method the researcher was decided to take sample households from selected
kebelles. These sample households was drawn for data collection using simple random sampling
method.

7
Table 1.2: Kebelle specific proposed number of sample households of Dessie town
Groups kebelles Sample Number of households Number of sample households
kebelles
Kebelles Kebelles Total Kebelles Kebelles Total
(05,01,12) (05,01,12)
(06, 10,15) (06, 10,15)

Kebelles close to 02,04,05, 05,06 2726 3649 6375 41 55 96

the center 06,07

Kebelles located 01,03,08, 01,10 2456 4338 6794 37 65 102

in the middle 09,10

Periphery(Rural 11,12,13, 12,15 1656 1496 3152 25 22 47

kebelles) of the 14,15,16
town

total 16 6 16321 245

Source: Dessie town health office, 2011

The second sample size determination was used for examining institutional arrangement and
capacity of the town sanitation, beautification and parks development which is responsible for town
solid waste management. According to the manual of SBPDD of Dessie town, the department has a
total of 34 employees who work on solid waste management aspect. For this study, the researcher
took all these workers since they are manageable by the financial, time, and resource of researcher.

The final sample size determination was done for measuring daily households’ solid waste
generation rate and physical composition. For this study the researcher identified 36 households
who are not involved in any type of business activities. They were taken from three income
categories: higher income, middle income and lower income category. This is because the rate and
quantity of solid waste production of households is a direct reflection of their income level or
economic performance. The amount of monthly households’ income was collected during data
collection using questionnaire. In addition for categorizing these sample households the researcher
also used ownership status of households’ residence and housing condition as indicator of economic
power of households. I.e. private cement houses as sign of higher income groups, private mud
houses as pointer of middle income groups, and unqualified kebelle houses and hats for lower
income categories.

8
1.6.4 Method of Data Analysis

Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used for data analysis. Quantitative methods
include percentages, means, graphical and tabular analysis, maps, ratios, rates and frequency
distribution. Qualitative techniques were cause and effect relationships, inductive and deductive
reasoning.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The researcher did not finish this research without short comings. Some of them were lack of data,
shortage of money during data collection. The writer also faced shortage of secondary data. Official
workers in the municipality of the town are also refused to give detail information related to
operational cost of SBPDD work process of some consecutive years. But, the researcher tried to
overcome some of those problems by finding reference documents about the town MSWM from
public and other different colleges’ libraries and by using its own money in addition to the fund
raised by AAU .

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

The study was confined to southern Wollo zone, Dessie town. This was mainly because there is a
severe problem of municipal solid waste management and limited surveys which were conducted so
far regarding the town solid waste management. And also its accessibility for minimizing financial,
time and other constraints as it is a home town of the researcher. On the other hand, the problem that
the researcher studied was delimited to overview of current condition of municipal and households’
solid waste management and institutional arrangements and capacity of SBPDD for delivery of
proper MSWM in the town.

1.9 Organization of the Thesis

This paper is organized in to five chapters with four parts. The first part is chapter one which is an
introductory part of the paper. The second chapter deals with review of related literature obtained
from various published and unpublished reference materials. The second part of the thesis is chapter
three that describe the background of the study area. The third part is result and discussion which
present analysis and interpretation of data about the existing status and spatial coverage of municipal

9
solid waste management practice, and institutional arrangement and capacity of municipal solid
waste management of town. The fourth and the last part of this study is chapter five which is
conclusion and recommendation. Bibliographies and appendices are also attached at the end of the
paper.

10
 CHAPTER TWO

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Concepts of Municipal Solid Waste Management

2.1.1 Definitions of Key Terms

Waste - according to UK environmental protection act (1990), “it is any substance which constitutes
scrap materials, an effluent or other unwanted surplus arising from application of any substances or
article which requires to be disposed of which has broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise
spoiled.”

Solid waste - can be defined as “any garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded solid materials
resulting from industrial, commercial, agricultural operations, and community activities, but does not
include dissolved materials” (U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 1995 cited in Samuel, 2006,p.5). In
short “it is anything that is neither liquid nor gas and is discarded as unwanted” (Federal Negarit
Gazeta of Ethiopia, proclamation number 513 of 2007).

Municipal solid waste (MSW) - refers to materials discarded in urban areas for which municipalities
are usually responsible for collection, transportation, and final disposal.

Municipal solid waste management - is an activity of planning and implementation of solid waste
management components such as collection, transfer and transportation, recycling, resource
recovery, and disposal MSW under jurisdiction of local government.

2.1.2 Sources and Types of Municipal Solid Waste

In order to categorize what exactly municipal solid waste constitutes, there have been different
attempts of categorization based on numerous classification criteria. Some of those criteria are
source from which solid waste emanates, and nature of solid waste components. On the basis of the
nature of items that constitute solid wastes, it can be classified into organic or inorganic, combustible
or non-combustible, and putrescible or non-putrescible (Edelman, 1997 cited in G/Tsadkan, 2002).
With respect to source from which solid waste emanates, (Martin, 2000) categorized municipal solid
waste as household (residential) refuse, institutional wastes, street sweepings, commercial areas

11
wastes, as well as construction and demolition debris. In developing countries, MSW also contains
various amounts of industrial wastes from small scale industries. In these sources there are diverse
types of solid wastes. But, some of typical solid wastes of those sources are described by (Dereje,
2001, p.36) as follows.
Domestic solid wastes: wastes generated from household activities such as food
preparation, cleaning, fuel burning, old cloths, furniture, obsolete utensils and equipment,
packaging, newsprint, and garden wastes. In developing countries, food waste and ashes
dominate households’ solid wastes.
Commercial wastes: waste from shops, offices, hotels, restaurants, etc and typically
consisting packaging materials, office supplies and food wastes. In low income countries
food markets contribute the largest proportion of commercial waste.
Institutional wastes: waste from schools, hospitals, clinics, government offices, military
bases etc, and comprise hospital and clinical wastes including potentially infectious and
hazardous materials.
Industrial wastes: composition of industrial waste depends on the kind of industries
involved. It consist food waste from kitchens, and canteens, packaging materials, plastics,
papers and metal items.
Street sweepings: dust, soil, paper, etc. In developing countries street sweeping also
include fruit and vegetable residues, household wastes dumped along roads, drain
cleanings, animal manure and plant remains.
Construction and demolition wastes: its composition depends on type of construction
materials used, but it typically includes soil, brick, stone, concrete, ceramic materials,
wood, packaging materials and the like.

2.1.3 Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste

For effective and efficient management of solid waste generated in a particular city, adequate
knowledge and data about the characteristics of solid waste is essential. In order to decide or
determine types of facilities required for solid waste management, best disposal options, and
projecting future needs requires precise information about quantities, compositions, densities,
moisture content and calorific value of solid waste produced in a city (Rushbrook, 1999 in
G/tsadkan,2002). Though all the above characteristics are important, for this study the researcher
emphasize only on municipal solid waste physical composition and generation rate.

Solid waste generation rate: refers to the “amount of waste disposed during a given period of time
and the quantification of it involves different methods: by measurement at the point of generation,
through use of vehicle survey and by examination of records at the disposal facility” (UNEP, 2009;

12
cited in Zebenay, 2010, p.18). The rate of solid waste generated in a given town is basically
determined by demographic growth, seasonal variation, geographic location, economic development
and people’s attitude towards waste. Nashiimirimana (2004) explained the influence of economic
development by comparing gross national product of developed and developing countries with their
waste generation rate. And he concludes that the higher the gross national product of a country result
the higher the generation of waste. It means due to difference in level economic performance, waste
generation rate of developed countries is highly greater than that of developing countries. Although
developing countries have a lower rate of waste generation compared to developed countries, their
quantum of waste is high owing to their higher levels of population growth. This clearly shows
impact of population size on waste generation rate (Ibid, 2004). On the other hand, people’s attitude
towards waste can also conditioned solid waste generation rate in the form of their pattern of
material use and waste handling, their interest in waste reduction and minimization, and the degree
to which they refrain from indiscriminate dumping and littering (Schubeler, 1996).

Therefore, an accurate knowledge of quantity and rate of solid waste generation in a given area is
essential for preparation and implementation of appropriate MSWM. Because it provides
information on human, financial and equipment resources required for collection and transportation
of waste, to enact appropriate laws on waste reduction, and establish current and future needs for
solid waste disposal sites (Abel, 2007).
Physical composition: refers to quantity of various material types in a particular waste stream. Just
like waste generation rate, physical composition of solid waste is also extremely variable as a
consequence different factors. The major once are of the following:
a) Economic level difference: higher income areas are usually produce more inorganic waste while low
income areas produce relatively more organic waste.
b) Demography (difference in amount of population for example, tourist places).
c) Locations: includes abundance and type of regions natural resource, and socio-cultural factors
which highly contribute for variation of waste in different areas.
d) Season: for instance during certain season’s yard wastes such as grass clippings and raked
2
leaves add greatly to solid waste (web page accessed, august 25,2010).

2
Urban waste generation and classification. Retrieved from (http://www.medcities.org/docs/3%20
urban%20waste % 20 generation%20classification.p).web page accessed, august 25, 2010.

13
Unlike various composition of solid waste in different areas, process of defining waste composition
is similar in each area i.e. by measuring mass percentage of each material group present in a sample.
Conduct of waste composition studies by using this method has several importances. “Some of these
are: for identification of potential resource recovery activities, facilitate collection, transport and
processing equipment, taking essential health, aesthetic and environmental precautions, and for
monitoring changes in waste composition over time and improving waste management system”
(Gidarkos, Havas, and Ntzamilis, 2005,p.1). Therefore, composition study is core stone for
successful planning and implementation of solid waste management.

2.1.4 Functional Elements of Municipal Solid Waste Management

In the course of municipal solid waste management there are six functional elements. Identification
of these functional elements allows description of relationships involved in each element, and
development of a framework. As a result, to handle a specific solid waste management it is
obligatory to observe the following six elements in combination. These are:

2.1.4.1 Waste Generation

Waste generation encompasses activities in which materials are identified as valueless and either
thrown away or gather together for disposal. This functional element is very important because all
activities that lead to identification and understanding of solid waste generation rate, volume,
composition, area specific variations of waste generation and their expected changes overtime are
belong to this component solid waste management. So, this functional element is a vital stage for
acquiring accurate information that is necessary to monitor existing management system and to
make regulatory, financial and institutional decisions (Gebrie, 2009).

2.1.4.2 On site Handling, Storage and Processing

This functional element constitutes activities associated with handling, storage, and processing of
solid wastes at point of generation.
Waste handling involves activities associated with management of wastes until they are
placed in storage containers for collection. It also encompasses movement of loaded
containers to point of collection. Storage refers stock up of wastes as soon as they are
generated. There are two types of storage activities at source. The first one is temporary

14
 storage done at household level as a part of their hygiene. The second type is communal
solid waste storage system on public solid waste containers prepared by municipality.
While processing at source involves activities such as waste composting and separation
of solid wastes for reuse and recycling. All of these components are important for
protection of public health and aesthetics and environment (Web page accessed, august
3
27, 2010).

2.1.4.3 Collection

Collection involves the process of picking up of wastes from collection points, loading them in to a
vehicle, and transporting it to processing facilities, transfer stations or disposal site. In most
municipal solid waste management systems, cost of collection accounts a significant portion of total
cost. For instance, “in industrialized countries collection accounts about 60-70% of total cost, and
70-90% in developing and transition countries” (UNEP, 1996). Collection is structurally similar in
developing, transition, and industrialized countries, but there are important technical and institutional
differences in implementation. In most cases, industrialized countries have more efficiency and
effectiveness than developing ones in terms of their approach of collection, role of municipal
governments, private-sector participation, and demographic and social factors relevant to collection.
In developing countries, collection often involves a face to face transaction between generator and
collector. The level of service is low, and generators often have to bring their wastes long distances
and place it in containers. As a result many collection activities in developing countries carried out
by informal sectors (UNEP, 1996). In general, there are four basic methods of collection described
by (Tchobanolous, et al 1993cited in Ramachandra and Bachamanda, 2006):
i. Community bin- they are placed in convenient locations where community members
carry waste and throw it in. This method is comparatively cheaper than other
methods, and most widely adopted method in western countries. For this method to
be adopted it is important that bins are covered, aesthetic, attended regularly, kept
clean, easy to handle, and separate bins are provided.
ii. Curbside collection - homeowner is responsible for placing containers to be emptied
at the curb on collection day and for returning empty containers to their storage
location until the next collection.
iii. Block collection- collection vehicles arrive at a particular place or a set day and time
to collect waste from households. Households bring their waste containers and empty
directly into the vehicle. This method requires a higher homeowner cooperation and
scheduled service for homeowner collaboration.

3
Chapter 2 Principles of Municipal Solid Waste Management. Retrieved from (http://urbanindia.nic.in/public
info/swm/chapter2.pdf) web page accessed, august, 27, 2010

15
 iv. Door to door collection- waste is placed at doorstep at a set time when waste collector
arrives. In this method, collector of waste has the responsibility to collect waste
separately. This method is very convenient for households, however requires homeowner
cooperation.

2.1.4.4 Transfer and Transport

These activities are associated with transfer of wastes from public storage facilities to collection
vehicle and the subsequent transport of wastes to disposal site. Transfer refers to movement of waste
or materials from primary collection vehicle to a secondary, larger and more efficient transport
vehicle. When location of final disposal site is at a long distance from points of collection, transfer
stations may be used. With respect to transfer stations, “there are two basic modes of operation:
direct discharge and storage discharge. In storage discharge refuse is first emptied from collection
trucks in to a storage pit or to a large platform. While in direct discharge station, each refuse truck
empties directly in to larger transport vehicles” (Meenakshi, 2005).

Transportation on the other hand covers all types of vehicles under operation to transport solid waste
from its generation point to transfer station and then to treatment or disposal site. “All vehicles in
operation are considered including manually driven small carts, mechanically driven sophisticated
transportation vehicles, and special vehicles for hazardous, bulky, and recyclable wastes. Generally,
a properly design transfer and transportation system highly reduces cost of collection” (Ibid, 2005).

2.1.4.5 Processing and Recovery

This functional element includes all techniques, equipments and facilities used both to improve the
efficiency of other functional elements and to recover usable materials, conversion products, produce
energy, and compost from solid wastes. In addition it also provides several advantages. First, it can
serve to reduce total volume and weight of waste material that requires collection and final disposal.
Volume reduction also helps to conserve land resources since land is the ultimate sink for most
waste materials. On the other side, it also reduces total transportation cost of waste to its final
disposal site (Uriarte and Filemon, 2008).

Solid waste processing and recovery has been carried out beginning from separation and processing
of wastes at the source. But, separations of mixed wastes usually occur at materials recovery facility,
transfer stations, combustion facilities and disposal sites. It often includes separation of bulky items,
separation of waste components by size using screens, manual separation of waste components, and

16
separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Then they enter in small and large scale industries for
recovery activities. For example, organic fraction of MSW can be transformed by a variety of
biological and thermal processes. The most commonly used biological transformation process is
aerobic composting and, the most commonly used thermal transformation process is incineration
4
(web page accessed, august 27, 2010).

2.1.4.6 Disposal

This is final functional element in solid waste management system. Disposal activities are associated
with final dump of solid wastes directly to a landfill site. Today disposal of wastes by land filling or
land spreading is the ultimate fate of all solid wastes whether they are residential wastes, or residual
materials from materials recovery facilities. “However, in most developed countries this method is
officially banned allowing only sanitary landfill for final disposal. Because sanitary landfill is not a
dump it is an engineered facility used for disposing of solid wastes on land without creating
nuisances or hazards to public health and environment” (Techobanglous, 2002). “Though it is the
most common technology around the world, conventional and environmental unfriendly methods
such as open-burning, open-dumping, and non-sanitary landfill can still be used as disposal method”
(UNEP, 2009).

2.1.5 Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste

Management Methods

2.1.5.1 Incineration
Incineration is one option for sustainable solid waste management. It is defined as the process of
burning solid waste under controlled conditions to reduce weight and volume of solid waste, and
often to produce energy. This process is really waste reduction, not waste disposal, though following
incineration ash must still be disposed. It is recognized as a practical method of disposing of certain
hazardous waste materials (such as medical waste). Incineration can be carried out both on a small
scale by individuals and on a large scale by industry.

4
Chapter 2 Principles of Municipal Solid Waste Management. Retrieved from (http://urbanindia.nic.In/
publicinfo/swm/chapter2.pd f) web page accessed, august, 27, 2010.

17
This facility does not require much area so that it is common in countries like Japan where land is
5
scarce (web page accessed, September 5, 2010). Incineration has several advantages and
disadvantages. These are summarized in table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Advantages and disadvantages of incineration

Advantages Disadvantages
• Requires minimum land • expensive to build and operate especially for developing
• Can be operated in any weather countries
condition • high energy requirement
• Produces stable odor free residue
• requires skilled personnel and continuous maintenance
• Can generate electricity
• Effective way for hazardous waste • emission of gaseous pollutants
management • If not carried out properly, incineration results air pollution
• Reduce solid waste weight up to 70 • Difficult to site because of citizens opposition
% and volume up to 90 %
• Encourages waste production because it is output approach

Source: (Miller, 2007)

Generally, according to UNEP (1996) there are considerations that we should keep in our mind when
we want to choose incineration. These are:

• The necessary environmental controls are properly installed and maintained.

• The facility is properly sized and sited to fit well with other components of the MSWM
• The material to be burned is combustible and has sufficient energy content.

2.1.5.2 Composting

It is a process of allowing biological decomposition of solid organic materials by bacteria, fungi,

worms, insects, and other organisms in to a soil for transforming large quantities of organic materials
to compost (humus like materials). “The organic materials produced by composting can be added to
soil to supply plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, sulfur, and calcium, slow
soil erosion, make clay soils more porous or increase water holding capacity of sandy soils” (Enger
and Smith, 2008).

5
Solid Waste Management Glossary. Retrieved from http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/swm-glossary.html web
page accessed, September 5, 2010.

18
 There are three scales at which composting has been implemented; residential level,
decentralized community level, and centralized and large scale municipality level. The
larger the undertaking the more capital investment is required. Most developing
countries which have found success with composting revealed that composting works
best when implemented at household level, with some project doing well at community
level as well. At municipal level financial commitment required to maintain equipment
has resulted in wide spread failures (zerbock, 2003, p.15).

Generally composting has many advantages; first it would reduce amount of waste requiring
ultimate disposal and extending the life of landfills. When it done correctly the end result becomes a
useful product, capable of being used at household or farm level to augment soil nutrient levels and
increase organic matter in the soil, increasing soil stability. If the product has high enough quality
and markets exist, it can be sold. Environmentally, process of composting is preferable than landfill
processes. In a landfill, bacteria break down organics anaerobically (in absence of oxygen) and
resulted in release of methane gas. However, in composting organic matter is decomposed using an
aerobic process and produces no methane by product (zerbock, 2003). Contrary to the above
benefits, composting has the distinction of being failed waste management system.

In cities of developing countries, most large mixed waste compost plants have failed or
operate at less than 30% of capacity. The problems most often cited for such failures
include: high operation and management costs, high transportation costs, poor quality
of product as a result of lack of sorting (especially plastic and glass fragments), poor
understanding of composting process, and high competition from chemical fertilizers
(which are often subsidized) (UNEP, 1996).

2.1.5.1 Reuse and Recycle

Reuse involves cleaning and using materials over and over. In other words, it means the use of a
product more than once in its original form for the same or a new purpose. It relays on items that can
be used over and over instead of throw away items. This method is used to decrease the use of matter
and energy resources, cuts pollution, creates local jobs, and saves money (Miller, 2007). “Reusing is
more efficient and better than recycling and composting methods because cleaning and reusing
materials in their present form avoids the cost of energy for remaking them in to something else”
(Cunningham,2008).

19
In addition to reuse, recycling is also an obvious solution of solid waste problem. It is an important
way of collecting solid waste materials and turning them in to useful products that can be sold in the
market place. Such materials can be reprocessed in two ways: primary and secondary. “Primary
recycling is a process in which original waste material is made back in to the same material for
example, newspapers recycled to make newsprint. In secondary recycling, waste materials are made
in to different products that may or may not be recyclable for instance, cardboard from waste
newspapers” (Miller, 2007).

Recycling is both environmental and economical issue. Many people’s are motivated to
recycle because of environmental concern i.e. it reduces pollution, it also save energy,
space and resources, helps to protect biodiversity and reduce litter. Economically, it
can save money for items like paper, metals and some plastics, and generally it is
important part of economy. However there are also some critics forwarded on
recycling dominantly on economic aspect of its benefits. Economists say that recycling
does not make sense if it costs more to recycle materials than to send them to a landfill
or incineration. They also forwarded that recycling is often not needed to save landfill
space because many areas are not running out of it (Miller, 2007).

2.1.6 Institutional Aspect of Municipal Solid Waste Management Service

2.1.6.1 Relationships between Institutional Structures and Municipal Solid Waste

Management

It is a common perception that improving MSWM means making waste collection and disposal
systems more efficient, raising public awareness and enforcing environmental MSWM laws.
However, according to Antipolis (2000)in Obeng etal,(2008,p.1) “a prerequisite for all these factors
is a well planned management, operating within an enabling institutional framework, and capable of
generating the financial resources required to meet operating, maintenance and investment costs.
Otherwise, poorly managed facilities lead to declining service levels, which in turn reduce the
chances of good cost recovery in terms of both willingness to charge and willingness to pay” (Obeng
etal, 2008,p.1). In addition, several studies also point out the strength of institutional structure as a
key underpinning factor to sustainable solid waste management. For example, (Schubeler et al,
1996) stated key institutional structure issues associated with MSWM which are considered as the
building blocks of an enabling institutional framework for MSWM. These are:

20
 • Decentralization of responsibility of MSWM i.e. a corresponding distribution of powers.
• Private sector involvement and participation of communities and user groups. Private sector
involvement in MSWM implies a shift in role of government institutions from service provision to
regulation. As a result, create essential conditions for successful private sector.
• Capacity building measures for MSWM should give primary attention to strategic planning and
financial management.
• The contribution of informal waste collection workers may be significantly improved through
appropriate organizational measures (Schubeler et al, 1996).

2.1.6.2 Relationship between Institutional Capacity and Provision of Municipal Solid

Waste Management
First of all, Institutional capacity means “the ability of institutions to perform functions, solve
problems, and set and achieve objectives in a sustainable manner” (UNDP, 2008 in Abeje, 2009).
According to Hilderbrand & Grindle’s in Watson (2004) capacity of an institution to deliver
municipal solid waste management is mainly depend on three factors. These include; 1) capacity of
individuals to perform their job or tasks; 2) considerations of structure and culture characteristics of
organization and its leadership; and 3) institutional context of public sector and expansion of the task
network.

A. The capacity of individuals to perform job or tasks

Environmental capacity building initiatives have not only stressed the importance of organizational
and institutional strengths, but also the abilities of agents, the role of human capital, technical
expertise and functional skills needed to carry out environmental protection measures. In relation to
solid waste management, “the capacity of an individual is expressed based on the will and ability to
set MSWM objectives and achieve them using one’s own knowledge and skill, linguistic
competence, expertise, will and sense of responsibility” (JICAIIC, 2005). “Strengthening the
efficiency of environmental protection through capacity building has therefore focused increasingly
on improving the skills of individuals through various forms of training because sustainable policy
implementation capacity cannot be achieved without strengthening the ability of institutions and
employees to carry out policy initiatives” (Hirschman, 1993cited in Watson, 2004,p.5).

21
 B. Structure of the organization and task networks
For the purpose of evaluating institutional capacity for MSWM, it is more important to examine the
present level of cooperation between government agencies charged with waste management
responsibilities; the present state of solid waste management policy; efforts undertaken for its
implementation and the level of cooperation between its implementing agencies; and the level of
municipal government financial and decision-making autonomy for determining appropriate waste
management options for their area (Hirschman,1993cited in Watson,2004).

Specifically, organizational capacity for MSWM can be viewed in terms of, human aspect (human
resource in the engineering, management, and planning sections in MSWM, including the
development of such resources), physical assets(facilities, equipments, land, fund, and capital all
required to provide MSWM), intellectual assets (expertise in MSWM system; statistical information
including waste flows, literature; manuals; and research data, organization forms, management,
leadership, and ownership that can put these assets to good use, and also a shared awareness with in
organizations (JICAIIC, 2005).

C. Institutional context of the public sector and expansion of the task network
Institutional context refers to the environment and conditions necessary for demonstrating
capabilities at the individual or organizational level, including the decision making process, systems
and frame works necessary for the formation, implementation of policies and strategies that are over
and above an organization. As a result, for better provision of solid waste management service it is
necessary to have the following capacities;

• Formal legal framework, laws, decrees and ordinances that define wastes and
clarify where the responsibility for waste management lies. And formal regulations
and standards on management, treatment and disposal of wastes; standards on
waste generation rates, environmental standards; and legal force.
• Articulated solid waste management policies, policy objectives.
• Social infrastructure for solid waste management services, social organizations
involved in solid waste management (CBOs), NGOs, formal and informal recycling
markets and industries.
• partnership designed to ensure that the opinions of local residents and communities
are taken account of good governance, involving a partnership between all
stakeholders in MSWM, Social ownership of the implementation of solid waste
management (public feeling, consensus or willingness to work together, etc
(JICAIIC, 2005, p.7).

22
2.2 Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries

The rapid extent and nature of urbanization in developing countries made MSWM as a major issue
of concern in those countries. “In the next 35 years, the urban population of world is expected to be
double to more than five billion people, and from this 90% of growth is taking place in developing
countries” (World resource institute, 1997; in Ahmed and Ali, 2002,p.468). As a result of this, the
existing MSWM of developing countries fail to catch up with the rapid increase of solid waste
production in these countries. To show this situation, UNCHS (1996) cited in Schertenleib and
Meyer (1992,p.1) report identified “one third to one half of solid waste generated with in most cities
in low and middle income countries are not collected, rather it ends up as illegal dumps on streets,
open spaces, and sewerage systems, and contribute to spread of diseases”. Furthermore, MSWM
schemes generally serve only part of the urban population. For instance, “in Kenya -Nairobi
municipal solid waste collection service is mainly concerned in central business district and more
affluent communities. As a result, in poor suburban zones indiscriminate disposal of solid waste at
riversides, roadsides, and other open spaces are common” (Henry et al., 2005 cited in Gebrie, 2009,
p.22).

Transport of waste from households, commercial areas, institutions and other generation
sites is also a growing problem in developing countries. The transport of waste becomes
longer and more time consuming, and hence, more expensive and less efficient. In
developing countries many sources of waste might only be reached by roads or alleys
which may be inaccessible to certain methods of transport because of their width, slope,
congestion, and surface. This is especially critical in unplanned settlements such as slums
or low income areas. In addition to this vehicles that serve for waste transports are also
outdated, poorly maintained and frequently out of action (zerbock, 2003, p.4).

The operational inefficiency of MSWM in developing countries is also further reflected in resource
recovery. Although the material recovery from the waste stream has a great potential in economic as
well as environmental point of view, municipality and formal private sector contribution in this
activities is minimum. Besides this, waste disposal is also a neglected area in many low income
countries and causes for environmental health hazards. Most of municipal solid wastes in developing
countries are dumped on land in a more or less uncontrolled manner. These dumps make very
uneconomical use of the available space, allow free access to waste pickers, animals and flies and
often produce unpleasant and hazardous smoke from slow-burning fires (Zurbrugg, 2003).

23
2.2.1 Constraints of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries

As it is noted earlier a typical solid waste management system in a developing country displays an
array of problems including low collection coverage and irregular collection services, and crude
open dumping and burning without air and water pollution control. These problems are caused by
various factors which constrain development of effective municipal solid waste management
systems. They can be categorized into technical, financial, institutional, social constraints, and
awareness and attitudes (Ogawa, 2002). Each of these constraints is discussed below.

2.2.1.1 Human and Technical Constraints

In most developing countries, there is lack of human resources and technical expertise both at
national and local levels. Many officers in charge of municipal solid waste management, particularly
at the local level, have little or no technical background or training in engineering or management
(Ogawa, 2002). This is a main reason for lack of comprehensive waste management planning in
developing countries. Furthermore, collection and analysis of solid waste data are generally not
given sufficient attention. As a result, there are few opportunities for waste management
administrators to become experts and to formulate and implement waste management plans that are
tailored to the actual situation in their country. This in turn makes it extremely difficult to license or
develop technologies that are best suited to the local conditions (web page accessed, September 9,
6
2010).

Moreover, research and development activities in municipal solid waste management have often low
priority in developing countries. This lack of research and development activities in developing
countries leads to selection of inappropriate technology in terms of local climatic and physical
conditions, financial and human resource capabilities, and social or cultural acceptability. “Several
guides or manuals on appropriate solid waste management technologies in developing countries are
available in the literature, and selection of technology could be made sometimes based on these
guides. However, in most cases these guides must be modified to local conditions prevailing in the
country, and therefore local studies are normally still needed” (Ogawa, 2002).

6
Chapter 1 Characteristics of Solid Waste Problems in Developing Countries. Retrieved from http://www.jica.go
.jp /english/publications/reports/study/topical/waste/pdf/waste02.pdf web page accessed, 14, 2010.
24
2.2.1.2 Financial Constraints

MSWM is given low priority in developing countries; as a result, very limited funds are allocated to
the sector by government. This problem is acute at the local government level where local revenue
collection system is inadequately developed and financial base for public service including MSWM
is weak. In addition to limited funds, many local governments in developing countries lack good
financial management and planning. For instance, “in a developing country town over 90% of annual
budget provided for solid waste management was used up within first six months. Lack of financial
management and planning, particularly cost accounting depletes limited resources available for the
sector even more quickly and causes solid waste management services to halt for some periods, thus
losing trust of service users” Zurbrugg (2003) in Gebrie (2009,p.22).

2.2.1.3 Institutional Constraints

The waste management regime in developing countries is seldom integrated, and there is
often no clear assignment of responsibilities and schedules among the organizations
involved. Furthermore, there is often no umbrella organization to coordinate overlapping
responsibilities for waste management that involve more than one agency. This situation
not only hinders effective implementation of waste management operations, but also
produces confusion in relation to technical cooperation and assistance projects among
donors. Along with these organizational and structural problems, lack of an effective legal
system and technical standards constitute a major constraint. Legal provisions related to
solid waste are often incorporated as fragmented elements in disparate laws, such as laws
for public hygiene, local administration, and environment protection Generally speaking,
there is no integrated legal framework to deal with waste management in developing
7
countries (web page accessed, September 9, 2010).

2.2.1.4 Social Constraints

Social status of solid waste management workers is generally low both in developed and developing
countries, but more severe in developing countries than developed countries. Such people's
perception leads workers to disrespect their work and in turn produces poor quality of their work. At
dump sites, transfer stations, and street refuse bins, waste picking or scavenging activities are
common scenes in developing countries. People involved have not received school education and
vocational training to obtain knowledge and skills required for other jobs. They are also affected by
limited employment opportunity available in formal sector. The existence of waste pickers

7
Chapter 1 Characteristics of Solid Waste Problems in Developing Countries. Retrieved from http://www. jica.
go.Jp /english/publications/reports/study/topical/waste/pdf/waste_02.pdf web page accessed, 14, 2010.

25
(scavengers) creates often an obstacle to the operation of solid waste collection and disposal
services. However, if organized properly their activities can be effective in waste management
system. Such an opportunistic approach is required for sustainable development of solid waste
management programs in developing countries (Ogawa, 2002).

2.2.1.5 Awareness and Attitudes

Public awareness and attitudes to waste can affect the whole municipal solid waste management
system. All steps in municipal solid waste management starting from household waste storage, to
waste segregation, recycling, collection frequency, willingness to pay for waste management
services, and opposition to sitting of waste treatment and disposal facilities depend on public
awareness and participation. Thus, lack of public awareness and school education about the
importance of proper solid waste management for health and well-being of people severely restricts
use of community based approaches in developing countries and also crucial factor for failure of a
MSWM service in developing countries (Zurbrugg, 2003).

2.2.2 Municipal Solid Waste Management in Ethiopia

Solid waste management is becoming a major public health and environmental concern in urban
areas of Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, like developing countries, increase of solid waste generation is
resulted from rapid urbanization and population booming. “The average solid waste generation rate
is about 0.221kg per person per day and it is also estimated that only 2% of the population received
solid waste collection services” (Zebenay, 2010, p.39). This shows that the operational condition of
MSWM service and efforts made to change the situation are low. As a result, small proportions of
the urban dwellers are served and large quantity of solid waste left uncollected. “The public sector
in Ethiopia is unable to deliver services effectively, as result illegal dumping of solid waste along
road sides and open areas is a common practice due to inadequate supply of waste containers and
8
longer distance to these containers” (web page accessed, September 8, 2010). The involvement of
private sectors are also very limited, but currently a number of micro and small scale enterprises are
emerging to participate in primary solid waste collection i.e. collect garbage at source from
households and transport it to the municipal waste containers and transfer points. To sum up the real

8
The Cycle of Waste in Addis Ababa, (1999). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Retrieved fromhttp://www.globnet. org /
preceup/ pages /ang/chaptire/capital/transver/ethiopia.htm web page accessed, September 8, 2010.

26
situation of MSWM in Ethiopia indicates that the problem of solid waste cannot be solved only by
mere effort of municipal government, there should be large involvement of the private sectors in
general and participation of micro enterprises and community in particular (Abebe,2006).

27
 CHAPTER THREE
3. BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY AREA

This chapter describes historical, physical (location, topography, and climate) and socio economic
back ground such as demography, social and physical infrastructures, and economic activity of
Dessie town.

3.1 Historical Background of Dessie Town

Dessie town, which is considered as the principal urban settlement in Wollo, is one of the relatively
older towns in Ethiopia. It came in to being in 1886 following Nigus Michael’s selection as a seat of
power. Several factors were responsible for the rise of Dessie as a political powerhouse of Nigus
Michael. The first reason was Dessie is very strategically situated at the heart of Wollo. The last
quarter of the 19th century saw that the ruling houses of Ethiopia were trying their best to
consolidate and expand their feudal domains. Thus, for Michael, who was one of the main actors of
this historical drama, Dessie’s commanding position was vital importance. There was also an
economic factor which encouraged Nigus Michael to make Dessie as political center of wollo.
Dessie was a well-placed site through which the flourishing Tigray-Shewa trade route passed. The
availability of water, fire-wood and grain also contributed to selection of Dessie as Michael's seat of
power. Thus, in 1886 Nigus Michael established his palace at “Ayteyyef”- a strategic site southeast
of the town and became the nucleus of the town. The land between the present days Medhane Alem
church through the left side of “Arada” up to “Silk Amba” was allotted to his guards and came to be
known as "Zebegna Sefer". The next step taken by Nigus Michael was to distribute land to his chiefs
and their retainers.

However, the newly-founded town of Dessie showed no significance growth until the late 1890s.
This was mainly because the chiefs of Michael were not certain about the stability of their position
and as a result they were reluctant to construct permanent structures on the land allotted to them. It
was in the post-Adwa period that Michael's retainers began constructing their domed houses in their
respective quarters. Their retainers, too, began to construct their huts around their Nigus residence.

28
As a result several residential areas evolved bearing the name of Michael's chiefs such as Dejjach
Yazew Sefer, Dejjach Yimer Sefer,etc.In such conditions the town of Dessie resumed its south-north
9
elongation (web page accessed, October 12, 2010).

The town was occupied by Italians 15 April 1936. Dessie became an important administrative center
under Italian occupation. In a decree of 1942, Dessie is listed as one of the six "Schedule A"
municipalities in Ethiopia, while there were about a hundred in "Schedule B". It was an
administrative, military, and commercial center. Dessie has an important marketplace dealing in
animal skins and agricultural products. The local handicrafts industry is also a significant economic
10
activity (web page accessed, October 15, 2010).

The town continued in importance as the capital of the province of Wollo until the province's
abolition in 1995. Following the severe civil war, in October 1990 Dessie was totally captured by
Ethiopian people's revolutionary democratic front (EPRDF). Currently, the town serves as the capital
city of South Wollo zone of Amhara Regional State (Draft Strategic plan of Dessie, 2009 cited in
Abebe, 2010).

3.2 Physical Background of Dessie Town

3.2.1 Location, Topography and Climate

Dessie town is found in south Wollo zone, eastern margin of Amhara regional state and in north-
central part of Ethiopia at a road distance of 401km from Addis Ababa. Astronomically, the town
lies on the intersection of 11°8′N 39°38′E. It is surrounded by imposing Tossa Mountain that
overlooks the town in west and rises to 3000 meters. The eastern side of the town is hilly with an
average elevation of about 2400 meters and constitutes a series of ridges of eastern escarpment of the
north-western highlands of the country. Out of the total area of the town, flat plain covers 10 %,
while 30 % is plateau, and the remaining 60 % is mountainous. Administratively, the town is
subdivided to 16 kebelles. From this 10 are urban kebelles while the remaining 6 are rural kebelles
of the town (Dessie town administration office magazine, 2009).

9
History of Dessie town, retrieved from (http://www.ethiopedia.com/index.php?title=Dessie , web page
accessed, october12,2010
10
History of Dessie town retrieved from Answer. Com, web page accessed, October 15, 2010
29
Map 3.1: Location of Dessie town in Amhara National Regional State of Ethiopia

30
The average elevation of the town ranges from 2400 to 2800 meter above sea level. The town is
bounded and squeezed by a series of ranges and escarpments with rugged surfaces between the cliffs
of Tossa and Azuwa, and Borkena River divides this basin in to two parts. Dessie falls within
“Dega” agro climatic zone with an average monthly minimum and maximum temperature of 12.370c
and 26.270c respectively. As a result, it has cooler temperature and higher precipitation. According
to the metrological data record at kombolcha station (which is 10km air distance from Dessie) in
Dessie there are two rainy seasons: spring (march-may) and summer (July-September), of which
summer season has the highest rainfall. The average annual rainfall for the period between 1994 and
2001were calculated to be 1070mm (Solomon, 1993 cited in Sileshi, 2004).

3.3 Socio-Economic Background of Dessie Town

3.3.1 Demographic Characteristics

According to 1994 national census report Dessie town has a total population of 97,314 of whom
45,337 were males and 51,977 were females. While in 2007 national census it was 151,094 with
growth rate of 3.38% /annum which is almost doubled in the past 13 years. The town has an
estimated area of 15.08 square kilometers, which gives the town a density of 11,213.79 people per
square kilometer.

3.3.2 Settlement Pattern and Housing Condition

According to the information gained from municipality office, the total numbers of plots that have
been distributed during the last five years for residential purpose were 2062 at an average rate of
about 412 per year. However, the places which are favorable for urban development have already
reached as a saturation point during the past three decades (between 1964 and 1994). Consequently,
in recent years the new settlement areas have been developed in different directions of the town.
Development of settlements on steep gradients has already aggravated the problem of surface run off
and thereby causing the concentration of landslides on the weakest part of an area (Dagnachew etal.,
1996 cited in Sileshi, 2004).

31
3.3.3 Social and Physical Infrastructures

In 1957, Dessie had one of 9 provincial secondary schools (excluding Eritrea) in Ethiopia, named
after Woizero Sehine the daughter of Negus Mikael. But now, Dessie has a number of governmental
and private educational institutions ranging from kindergarten to higher education levels. According
to the Dessie town education office report of 2010, there are 29 kindergartens, 36 general primary,
11 secondary and preparatory, 8 higher education institutions (colleges) and 1 university currently
functioning in the town (Dessie Town Education Office Report,2010). On the other hand, according
to the information obtained from Dessie town health office (2009), the health coverage of the town
has now reached to about 44.5 percent. The town has five hospitals, 4 diagnostic and regional
laboratory, 7 higher clinics, 11 junior clinics, 2 whole services of pharmaceutical products, 21
pharmacies and drug stores, 7 health centers and 8 developing health posts. This shows that the
provision of health service coverage is found in a good manner and also gives service for the
neighboring zones and region like Oromiya zone and Afar region. In addition, the participation of
private investors on this sector is great since they cover 62% of such health facilities.

With respect to transportation, electricity and telecommunication services, the town also has such
services. In the town there are 108 km of roads out of which 33.4 km are asphalt while the
remaining are gravel roads. Owing to this, the town is known for its high traffic flow in addition to
its high commercial and communication centers. The town also gives transportation service to
different areas using many public buses. Dessie shares airport with neighboring Kombolcha. On the
other dimension, Dessie has postal service beginning from 1920s and telephone service from at least
as early as 1954. At present, the telephone service is reached to 16,240 fixed line and 11,897 mobile
telephone connections and Postal services serve for about 1,600 customers. Among these telephone
services, there are 14,046 and 13,450 fixed line and mobile customers/beneficiaries respectively.
Moreover, 420 internets and 123 public phones booths are also at services. Besides this, the town has
also electrical power since at least 1963 when a new diesel-powered electric power station with a
power line to Kombolcha was completed. Today, the town serviced with 24 hours of electricity
(Dessie aown administration office magazine, 2009).

32
3.3.4 Economic Activities of Dessie Town

Currently, Dessie has exhibiting promising improvements in almost all areas of development
activities in general and local economic development in particular. Owing to its strategic location on
the main north-south transportation route, Dessie is an important trade and transport center for the
north eastern part of the country. As a result, the town’s economy is largely characterized by
diversified trade activities particularly involves collection and distribution of agricultural and
industrial commodities and provision of catering services (Dessie town administration office
magazine, 2009).

33
 CHAPTER FOUR

4. ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT STATUS AND SPATIAL COVERAGE OF

MUNCIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICE OF DESSIE TOWN

4.1 Introduction

Dessie town is one of the oldest, populous, and fast growing towns of Ethiopia. It is also known by
being a trade and communication center, junction point for different towns of the northern part of the
country, and varied topographic features. Unlike these features of the town, municipal solid waste
management service provision for its residents was a recent phenomenon beginning from 1997. In
paradox with this recent duration of MSWM service delivery, solid waste generation of the town was
continues to grow for many years and currently it reaches to 32188 m ଷ /annum (SBPDD
report,
2009). As a result of this huge generation of solid waste, town residents considered MSWM as a
necessary and vital urban service. For instance, from total 239 sample households of the town
around 167(69.87%) of them are regarding this service as a burning urban service just like road,
water and electricity. This is because absence of qualified and efficient municipal solid waste
management service exposed them to various health, aesthetic and environmental impacts. On the
other hand, respondents are also asked to evaluate the effort made by municipality to provide
efficient municipal solid waste management service compared with other services of the town. And
majority 229(95.82%) of them responded that municipality has made weak effort. For this reason,
this chapter briefly discusses and evaluates the existing condition of MSWM service in general and
household solid waste management practice in particular.

4.2 Socio Economic and Demographic Characteristics of Sample Households

Because solid waste generation and its handling shows a great variation related with difference in
background characteristics of households, in this study the researcher tried to constitute different
sample households with various socio economic and demographic characteristics. In this study the
questionnaire survey was conducted among 239 households with a response rate of 97.55%. Among
those sample respondents more than half (65.27 %) of them are females. This was due to the fact that
most of the time females stay and work inside their house rather than working outside. Such
dominance of women is appreciated and important for this research since women have better
34
knowledge than men about their residence solid waste property and its handling. This is because
most of such kind of activates are routinely done by women and children. Besides this, out of the
total respondents about 76.57 % of sample respondents are belong to adult age group (20-50 ages).
This is also contributed for the accuracy of information gathered from such respondents.
Table 4.1: Socio economic and demographic characteristics of respondents

Variables Category Frequency Percentage

Sex Male 83 34.73 %
Female 156 65.27 %
Total 239 100 %
Age 15-19 42 17.57 %
20-30 77 32.22 %
31-40 61 25.52 %
41-50 45 18.83 %
51-60 14 5.86 %
Total 239 100 %
Educational level No formal education 27 11.3 %
1-4 grade complete 16 6.69 %
5-8 grades complete 22 9.21 %
9-12 grades complete 75 31.38 %
Certificate 24 10.0 4%
Diploma 39 16.32 %
First degree 30 12.55 %
Second degree and above 6 2.51 %
Total 239 100 %
House ownership condition Kebelle rental house 50 20.92 %
private rental house 69 28.87 %
private house 120 50.21 %
Total 239 100 %
Family size 1-3 85 35.56 %
4-6 122 51.05 %
7-9 29 12.13 %
10 and above 3 1.26 %
Total 239 100 %
Average monthly income Less than 500 77 32.22 %
501-1000 48 20.08 %
1001-1500 37 15.48 %
1500-2000 40 16.74%
Greater than 2000 33 13.81 %
Not mentioned 4 1.67%
Total 239 100 %
Source: Survey data, 2011

Furthermore, with respect to educational level greater numbers of respondents (31.38 %) have
educational level of 9-12 grades complete. Next to this diploma (16.32 %) has relatively great share.

35
These educational characteristics of sample households also resulted positive impact to get brief and
different perceptions. Finally, income level of participated households’ also illustrated in table 4.1.
Households were categorized into five groups based on their monthly household income. Thus,
dominant (32.22 %) number of sample households’ average income is grouped in the first category
who earns less than 500 birr per month. But the least number of households (13.81 %) are clustered
in category five that earn greater than 2000 birr.
4.3 Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste of Dessie Town
One of the basic services that are currently receiving wide attention in many towns of Ethiopia is
municipal solid waste management. This is mainly because solid wastes that are generated in most
towns of Ethiopia are not appropriately handled and managed. However, it is possible to minimize
and solve these problems through strictly planning and implementing different municipal solid waste
management components. The first and the most prerequisite step for provision of efficient MSWM
is began by identification of major sources, and determination of generation rate and composition of
municipal solid waste. This is because these elements are considered as a baseline for the rest of
municipal solid waste management components. Therefore, for appropriate management of
municipal solid waste of Dessie town, reliable and accurate data about these elements is very
decisive. Despite this, Dessie town sanitation, beautification, and parks development department
(SBPDD) gave less attention. For instance, regarding the town residential solid waste composition
and generation rate, there has been lack of frequent and ongoing surveys opposed to frequent
variation characteristics of it. Furthermore, those available data are also scattered and unorganized.
In order to fill this gap a researcher investigates household solid waste generation rate and physical
composition since the majority of solid waste constituents of the town are comes from households.
4.3.1 Municipal Solid Waste Sources and Their Solid Waste Generation
Municipal solid waste consists of highly heterogeneous mass of discarded materials from urban
residences, commercial establishments, institutions, street sweepings, and light industrial activities.
Similarly, according to Dessie town SBPDD report (2009) there are five major sources of MSW of
the town. These are residential areas, commercial areas, street sweeping, institutions, and small scale
industries. Based on this report, the daily total solid waste generation of these sources is around
11
88 ݉ଷ (32560kg) and annually it reaches to 32188 ݉ଷ (11,909,560 kg).

1݉ଷ = 370 kg
11

36
Table 4.2: Major solid waste sources and their daily and annual generation in 2011
Source of solid waste Solid waste generated per Solid waste generated Percentage
day(in ࢓૜ ) per annual (in ࢓૜ ) share

Residential areas 52.8 19312.8 60 %

Commercial areas 16.72 6115.72 19%

Street sweeping 9.68 3540.68 11%

Institutions 7.04 2575.04 8%

Small scale industry 1.76 643.76 2%

Total 88.00 32,188 100 %

Source, SBPDD report, 2009

Table 4.2 revealed that the lion share (60%) of solid waste of Dessie town is generated from
residential areas. Even if massive amount of solid waste of the town is generated from this source,
the town SBPDD does not gave much weight for it in planning and implementation process of
MSWM. For example, in order to make plan to the town solid waste management, SBPDD has used
daily and annual household solid waste generation of 52.8 ݉ଷ (19536 kg) and 19312.8 ݉ଷ (7145736
kg) respectively using 0.12kg/day generation rate as constant. However, based on this study the
daily and annual generation rate of household of the town is much greater than the above estimation
of the department. For making this survey researcher identified 36 households who are not involved
in any type of business activities. Based on their monthly income, ownership status of household
residence and housing condition, they were categorized in to higher, middle, and lower income
groups. After this researcher gave plastic containers for each household and measure their solid
waste for seven consecutive days. The findings of this survey are summarized in table 4.3.

37
Picture 4.1: Partial view of daily household solid waste generation and composition measurement.
Source: field survey, 2011

Table 4.3: Solid waste generation rate of households in 2011

Income No of sample Family Qt/HH/week(kg) Qt/HH/day(kg) Generation rate of a
groups HHs size group Qt/day/person(kg)

Higher 6 36 71.3 10.186 0.283

Middle 12 59 101.6 14.514 0.246

Lower 18 88 123 17.572 0.2

Total 36 183 295.9 42.272 0.231

Source: field survey, 2011 (for detail understanding of result see appendix 4)
Daily total solid waste generation of residential areas of the town is calculated as total population of
the town (161,633) times per capita household solid waste generation rate. Based on the updated per
capita household generation rate of 0.231kg (0.000624 ݉ଷ ) indicated in table 4.3, daily total solid
waste generation is 37337.223kg (100.91݉ଷ ). The annual total generation of solid waste is also
100.91݉ଷ times 365 days i.e. 36832.15݉ଷ (13627895.5kg). When 0.231 kg/d generation rate of
Dessie town is compared with other Ethiopian towns such as 0.277 kg/d of Mekelle, 0.22 kg/d of
Bahirdar, and 0.227kg of Debre markos, 0.267 of Adama town and 0.233 kg/d for east African
cities developed by WHO cited in (Gebrie,2009), this finding is consistence and reliable. However,
when this generation rate is compared with the town SBPDD existing capacity to handle this amount
of solid wastes it is very high and create high load for the department.

38
4.3.2 Composition of Municipal Solid Waste

As it is indicated in review of literature part of this research municipal solid waste is a term usually
applied to a various mixtures of solid wastes produced in urban areas. But commonly urban wastes
can be subdivided into two major components called biodegradable and non biodegradable. The
biodegradable component of urban solid waste constitutes organic wastes such as food waste, garden
waste, and agricultural waste which undergo biological degradation under controlled conditions and
can be turned into compost or organic fertilizer. While non biodegradable wastes includes inorganic
materials which can’t be decomposed and degraded. Likewise, from my own observations in
disposal site, illegally dumping areas and in residential areas, Dessie town physical composition of
municipal solid waste is also composed from both biodegradable and non degradable components.
The dominant types of biodegradable solid wastes are food leftovers, vegetable peelings, onion, seed
coats, grasses, kitchen and garden wastes, animal wastes, ash, dust, leaves, scarp of chat, market
place wastes (vegetable and fruit wastes), papers, wood scraps, bones, straw, dead animals,
cardboard, cartons and paper packaging materials etc. Whereas non biodegradable wastes of the
town includes different types of plastics(like plastic bags or “festals”, broken pieces of plastic
materials, plastic packaging materials), cables and useless electronic materials, pieces of ceramics,
glass, cans, pieces of metals, textile scraps, discarded old shoes, packaging materials, etc.

Picture 4.2: Partial view of biodegradable and non biodegradable solid wastes generated. Source:
field survey, 2011

39
Apart from these, construction and demolition waste that is generated during the course of repair,
construction, and destruction activities constituting sands, soil stones, nails, cement concrete, wood,
and so forth are also observed in the town. This is due to high construction activities of the town and
such wastes are not stored by waste generator within their compound rather they deposited just
outside in streets and open areas. Different types of medical waste such as syringes, gloves, glucose
materials etc from hospitals, clinics, and other health care establishments are also detected in
different disposal areas of the town. But such wastes should be managed carefully and separately
from the above types of solid wastes because of its hazardous health impacts.

Picture 4.3: Partial view of medical solid wastes. Source: field survey, 2011

Though the town municipal solid waste is comprised from the above listed solid waste fractions, it is
dominated by organic waste streams generated from households, markets and commercial areas. The
main reason behind this is about 60 % of MSW of the town arises from residential areas and this
source is dominantly characterized by biodegradable solid wastes. To reach this conclusion the
researcher made measurement on major solid waste composition of households by sorting and
weighting it for seven continuous days from 36 houses in conjunction with solid waste generation
rate measurement.

40
Table 4.4: Composition of residential solid waste in 2011

Category Type of solid waste Qt/day/person in Kg percentage share

Biodegradable Ash and dust 0.1027 44.5%

waste
Food waste 0.072 31.1%

Non Grass, leaf, straw, paper, 0.0242 10.5%

biodegradable cardboard, and wood scarp

Plastic, textiles and leathers 0.0152 6.6%

Glass, ceramics and metals 0.0169 7.3%

Total 0.231 100%

Source: field survey, 2011 (for detail understanding of result see appendix 5)
As it is expected in developing countries around 75.6% of households solid waste stream of Dessie
town is covered by biodegradable waste such as ash and dust (44.5%), and food waste (31.1%). This
is because majorities of the population have mud houses that frequently generate dust, and uses
wood as energy source. Food wastes also generate from house cooking, food slip and fruits. This
condition dictates that the most appropriate and sustainable method for management of Dessie town
solid waste is composting. In addition to this, there should also be an activity of reuse and recycle
for those inorganic materials even if their proportion seems insignificant. Otherwise, in the long run
those solid wastes may deteriorate the human health and the town environment.

4.4 Solid Waste Storage Facility and Its Handling in Dessie Town

This functional element of MSWM constitutes an activity that is carried out both by solid waste
generators and solid waste managers of a town. It encompasses an action of storing solid waste in a
certain kind of material or equipment as soon as it is generated and safe control of it until it is
permanently disposed. Accordingly, studying solid waste storage facilities and their handling has
significant impact for betterment of municipal solid waste management activity. This is from the
point of identification of type and quantity of storage material to be used, appropriate location
(sitting) of it, deciding the collection method to be used, and avoidance of health, environment and
aesthetics impacts of storage materials (G/tsadkan, 2002). As a result of this, the researcher collects
information about solid waste storage and handling practice of Dessie town and briefly explains in
two categories. The first category constitutes primary or temporary storage facility of households,

41
while second category comprises secondary or communal storage facility of a town which includes
public solid waste container and dustbins. The detail examination of both of these storage facilities is
described in the following sections.

4.4.1 Primary Solid Waste Storage Facility and Its Handling

Residents of Dessie town used different type storage materials in their compound which is stationary
like pit and portable like sack. In order to assess type and quantity of storage materials of residents,
around 239 households were asked. The result has shown that 78.24 % have one storage material,
while the remaining 21.76 % have two storage materials. But, on the type of storage materials used
by households there is high variation. This is mainly because the nature of storage material of
households is depend on characteristics of solid waste (rate of generation, physical and chemical
composition, moisture content of waste etc.), collection frequency and types of collection equipment,
space available for placement of the storage materials, and economic power of solid waste
generators (Techobanglous, 1977 and 1993 cited in G/tsadkan, 2002). The concrete evidence of this
situation is shown in the following figure 4.1.

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20
0
sack basket Metal Plastic bag Private pit Others(carton
container or cardboard)

Figure 4.1: Types of primary solid waste storage materials of households. Source: field survey, 2011

42
As it is clearly observed in figure 4.1, the majority of households (71.97%) stock up their solid waste
in sack (“Madaberiya”). This is highly related with the least cost of sack, easily availability in the
market, its suitability for holding large volume of solid wastes, and low frequency and spatial
coverage of door to door solid waste collection service of the town. Next to sack, about 15.89 % of
households use plastic bag followed by basket (5.86 %) because of their frequent but low generation
of waste and economical power to utilize replicable storage materials such as plastic bags. Following
these there are households that use private pit (3.35 %) and cardboard (1.67 %) as storage material of
solid waste in their home. This is due to availability of space in their compound and households need
to prepare fertilizer for vegetable growing. But, the least used storage material is metallic container
(1.26 %). This is essentially because of its difficulty for transportation, high cost and low access in
market.

Picture 4.4: Partial view of solid waste storage materials of households. Source: field survey, 2011

However, different from preparation and usage of storage material, most of the residents do not have
well established handling practices and give low attention for it. The storage materials of households
are characterized by unpleasant feature resulted by inappropriate handling, and drop out of solid
waste around storage material. Majority of households are also located it very near to houses
especially in condominium houses storage materials are placed inside the house due to absence of
space.

43
4.4.2 Secondary solid waste storage facilities and their handling

Secondary storage facilities refers to different types of solid waste containers which involve keeping
solid waste generated from different households at a common or central point from where collection
vehicles can pick it and transport to final disposal site(Zebenay, 2010). These facilities are provided
by municipality which is responsible for management of the town solid waste. Until early 2010
Dessie town SBPDD put 21 public solid waste containers in different areas of the town where
frequent illegal dumping of waste was mostly occurred, and in areas where high population density
is assumed to exist. But this operation caused odor and dust problems. Residents around those
containers were highly exposed and attacked by different solid waste caused diseases. This is mainly
due to lifter truck being out of service, absence of frequent collection of those public solid waste
containers, and misuse of the society. As a result, the town SBPDD was forced to collect those
public solid waste containers instead of serving the intended purpose.

However, for solving problem of secondary storage facility, the town SBPDD prepared 9 communal
solid waste accumulation sites called transfer stations. Presently, these are located in:

• Arada (kebelle 03)

• Around Catholic high school (kebelle 10)
• Behind Kidame Gebeya high school (kebelle 07)
• In front of Memhir Akale Wold preparatory school (kebelle 09)
• Near Hotie high and preparatory school (kebelle 06)
• In front of Zemagel primary school (kebelle 09)
• In front of Fasika hotel (kebelle 05)
• Behind Gion hotel (kebelle 05)
• Nearby W/o Sihine TVT college (kebelle 05).

These sites are found at the edge of main roads in order to make such places accessible for
transportation. However, in many cases those transfer stations are not well designed, not protected
from rain and sun. They are just road side open dumps without any health and aesthetic impact
considerations and optimum travel distance of beneficiaries. So, those sites are created bad smell,
unsightly urban picture, and deterioration of the neighborhood.

44
According to interview made with SBPDD head, those transfer stations give service only to MSSE
workers who collect solid waste from households, institutions and commercial areas. The reason
behind this is the regulation made by SBPDD. It stated that in order to use transfer stations one
should have to accumulate waste by using sack and also he/she should load his/her accumulated
waste by waiting municipality truck until it comes. Because of this regulation, communities and
informal sectors are not allowed to use this transfer stations.

Picture 4.5: Typical solid wastes transfer stations and their respective users (MSSE solid waste
collectors). Source: field survey, 2011

45
However, in some transfer stations such as in front of Zemagel school, around Catholic school,
behind Kidame Gebeya school, and near Hotie high and preparatory school residents
indiscriminately dispose waste without storing it by sack or any other storage material. As a result of
this, it is common to observe accumulated solid wastes in such transfer stations of the town.

Picture 4.6: Partial view of solid wastes transfer stations which are characterized by indiscriminate
disposal of HHs. Source: field survey, 2011

Besides this, those nine transfer stations are also characterized by uneven distribution both in terms
of distance from beneficiaries and kebelle specific locations. When we go far from the center, the

46
numbers of transfer stations are decreased in relation with low solid waste collection service of
MSSE and municipality truck. On the contrary, distance between each transfer stations and illegal
disposal of solid waste are increased as we go out of the center to the periphery of the town.

Map 4.1: Kebelle specific distributions of solid waste transfer stations of Dessie town. Source: field
survey, 2011
As it is indicated in map 4.1, majority of transfer stations (about 5 of them) are situated in kebelles
which are located close to the center (kebelle 05, 06 and 07), while the rest are placed in middle
kebelles of 03, 09 and 10. But in periphery and rural kebelles there are no transfer stations at all.
Map 4.1 also reveals that variation is not only existed between those three groups of kebelles but
also between individual kebelles of each group. From 5 transfer stations of central kebelles, more
than half (3) of transfer stations are found in kebelle 05. And also from 4 transfer stations of middle
kebelles 2 of them are located in kebelle 09. This situation clearly shows that there is very low
spatial coverage of secondary solid waste storage facilities in the town.

47
Apart from transfer stations, there are also dustbins which used to collect pedestrians’ solid waste
like napkins, pieces of paper, and remains of fruits such as banana, orange etc. Nevertheless,
according to the interview taken from SBPDD head, there were around 60 dust bins that were
located at the major roads, recreational areas, institution and market areas, but all of them are stolen
and currently there is no dustbin in the town. The main reason behind this was placement of dust
bins were not cemented in to ground rather they placed in electric and telephone poles. This type of
placement accelerated theft of those bins since it is easy to move and pick.

4.5 Solid Waste Separation, Processing and Recovery Activities in Dessie Town
In this study solid waste separation, processing and recovery activities at source and by municipality
refer all activities or efforts of separation of recyclable, reusable, compostable wastes to sell or to
recover resources by themselves. Practicing these types of activities is very important to waste
generators as well as municipality since it minimizes cost of disposal, generates revenue, and
prolongs lifespan of disposal site. This is one of the reasons why solid waste managers in many parts
of the world are now exploring ways to reduce flow of biodegradable and recyclable materials to
landfill sites. However, in the case of Dessie town such activities are found at a very grass root level
without any significant outcome and progress. Generally, in the following sections we will see the
separation, processing and recovery activities both at the households and SBPDD level of the town.

4.5.1 Solid Waste Separation, Processing and Recovery Activities of Households

A. Solid waste separation

As the researcher tried to observe households solid waste separation activities in the town, only solid
wastes that are sellable to Quraleos, exchangeable to Liwach, and to some extent organic wastes are
separated. Supporting to researcher’s observation, response of sample also shows that about 62.76%
of them are separately store solid wastes which are sellable to “Quraleos” and exchangeable with
“Liwach”. According to those respondents the dominant types of such wastes include: textile and old
shoes (37.58 %), tin and metals (26.67 %), plastics (18.78 %), glass, bottles, and can (13.33 %), and
electronic wastes (3.64 %). Households’ awareness about usefulness of such discarded wastes for
Quraleos and Liwach together with their low economic performance led households to separately
store such wastes and generate income and new equipments to their house.

48
However, beyond such solid wastes, separation of other types of solid wastes in different dwellings
of the town is very low, only 33 (13.81%) of sample households are currently separating. Some of
solid wastes that are separated by such small number of households are:
• ash, dust, agricultural waste, and food wastes for the purpose of using it as home garden
• grass, leaf, waste of sugarcane, waste of cattle’s(after dried by sun), wood scrap, waste of
chat to use them as fuel
• used papers are reused as toilet paper by family
• plastic, paper and other burnable solid wastes for reducing the volume of waste by burning,
makes throwing convenient and contributing to environmental protection.

B. Resource recovery activities

In order to assess resource recovery activity of residents the researcher used recycling, reusing and
composting activities as a baseline and tried to collect the responses of sample households.
Accordingly, it is found that participation of the society is still very low even as it is compared to
separation of solid waste. From the very beginning the number of respondents who have awareness
about the concept of recycling, reusing, and preparation of compost are low (47.28 %). This fact
demonstrates that there is lack of awareness about sustainable solid waste management practices
within the society since reusing, recycling and composting concepts are considered as pillars of
sustainable solid waste management.

Aside from awareness of the society, the numbers of respondents who are currently practicing such
activities are also very insignificant in number. About 30 (12.55 %) of them are carried out reusing.
The major types of materials which are reused by the society are glasses, bottles, metallic materials,
plastic materials, textiles, and umbrellas with accompanying some sanitation and maintenance
activities by themselves or through taking it to maintenance experts. In terms of recycling, none of
the respondents are practicing this task. The main reason behind low recycling and reusing activities
of the society is their less interest and very low economic feasibility of recycled materials. Even
though few people have interest to practice such activities, lack of technical ability, financial
capacity, material and space, and absence of support from their family and society discouraged them.

49
On the other dimension 17 (7.11 %) respondents are presently preparing compost. But, based on the
response of those respondents and my own observation most of compost preparation activities of
households are failed due to lack of technical skill of compost preparation.

Picture 4.7: Partial view of households composting activity. Source: field survey, 2011

4.5.2 Solid Waste Separation, Processing and Recovery Activities by SBPDD

Even though the rapid pace of urbanization of Dessie town and parallel increment of its solid waste
volume are adding burden to SBPDD of the town , the existing waste composition of the town which
carries a high potential for composting create a better chance to municipality for undertaking
environmentally as well as economically viable solid waste management. SBPDD understands this
potential resource and included it as one strategic plan of the department. However, contrary to their
strategic plan SBPDD is not carried out any type of composting activity. Towards recycling and
reusing the department does not also made any attempt, rather it totally engaged in collection,
transfer, and final disposal of solid waste as the only means of municipal solid waste management.
This is attributed to lack commitment, finance, material, and manpower resource.

Furthermore, to fill this gap the department did not also play any role in organizing, encouraging,
and giving incentives to different stake holders such as informal workers, private investors, NGOs,
and communities to participate in such activities. For instance, in the town there is a recycling
activity held by hand crafts through scavenging recyclable materials using informal waste collector

50
called Quraleos. They located in Arada (kebelle 03) and used metal, tin, cans, oil containers, etc to
produce a variety of materials like container, fuel saving stove which is called ‘laketch”. But, there is
no recognition and support given by SBPDD.

Picture 4.8: Partial view of handicrafts recycling activity in Dessie town. Source: field survey, 2011

4.6 Solid Waste Collection and Transportation Systems in Dessie Town

Collection and transportation of solid waste involves the process of picking up of waste from place
of generation, taking it to nearby public solid waste containers or transfer stations, and finally
dumping it to disposal site. This functional element is very decisive and mandatory component of
municipal solid waste management because productivity and efficiency of this service is highly
determined by it. Currently, in Dessie town there are two methods of waste collection such as door
to door and transfer stations collection.

4.6.1 Door to Door Solid Waste Collection and Transportation Systems

This method is largely implemented for collection of solid waste from residential areas. It is
provided by MSSE and informal waste collectors, and rarely by municipality collection truck. But
the service of MSSE is reached to very small number of residents. Currently in Dessie town there are
5 MSSE which engaged in deliver of solid waste collection service to the town residents. According
to SBPDD head interview, in each 10 urban kebelles of the town there are one MSSE organized
under micro and small enterprise office of the town, but presently 5 of them are not working due to
material and financial shortage. So, the remaining 5 MSSEs, namely Addis tesfa, GT, Lewute

51
legodana, kale, and Abyssinia are functioning now. All of them are males who work under their
organization leadership integrated with the city municipal. Most of them are established in 2010,
only Addis tesfa and GT are organized in 2007. Apart from these, there is also one women
association consisting 35 women. They give solid waste collection service to some commercial
districts that located in “Arada”, “Shelf Tera” and “Buna Tera”. Normally, both 5 MSSEs and one
women association are participated only on door to door solid waste collection from individual
house, commercial areas and institutions to transfer stations. While sorting, recycling and
composting were not carried out by them.
Table 4.5: Overall characteristics of MSSE solid waste collectors in 2011
List of MSSE No of client Average service No of No of man
charge equipment power

HHs Hotels and institutions HHs Hotels

Addis tesfa 630 9 10-15 4 22

GT 560 35 10-15 30-50 3 10

Lewute legodana 62 3 20-30 30-50 1 cart 6

kale 150 6 5-15 50-300 1 5

Abyssinia 95 2 10-15 50 - 8

Total 1497 55 9 51

Source: field survey, 2011

According to the personal interviews with MSSE leaders, they have around 1497 clients and they
charged 10-30 birr per month from households and 30-300 birr for institutions and hotels based on
amount of solid waste and distance from the transfer stations. They collect solid waste from residents
with one weak interval. When this figure is compared to total household size of the town (37590) it
only covers 3.98% of them. This is largely attributed to small number of MSSEs and their less
human and material capacity. But, according to 67.64 % of SBPDD workers and 20% of sample
households’ appreciate MSSE effort and give fair price to them. Related with this, the researcher
also observed that they are being operating and contributing to the cleanness of the town.
Nonetheless, due to multidimensional challenges they are not optimally utilized their efforts. Those
challenges are:

52
 ™ Scarcity of equipments. For instance Abyssinia MSSE has no any type of collection
equipment and they simply collect solid waste by human power, while Lewute legodana and
kale only have 1cart for each. General all MSSEs have 51 members but their total number
of cart 9 i.e. 1cart for 6 workers. As a result of this they can’t do full day rather they are
working by shift.
™ Lack of support from different stakeholders such as kebelle, SBPDD, NGOs, MSSE office
etc apart from municipality collection truck and 1cart from Mechane Iyessus church. The
MSSE office of the town refused to give credit to them for purchasing equipments and
collection vehicle.
™ Shortage of collection car and transfer stations together with weak controlling mechanism of
municipality for time wastage and absents of the truck. For instance, the Addis tesfa leader
told me that even though their association has got additional 400 numbers of household
clients and can collect around 4500 birr per month, because of lack of transfer stations
around them and small collection coverage of the municipality vehicle they lost them.
™ Lack of respect from the community as well as municipality and unwillingness of some
households to pay for MSSE monthly collection fee after the use the service and lack of
respect or demoralization. In addition community refused MSSE to use transfer stations
around there surrounding.
™ No training and protective material given to by municipality them when they enter to this
work
™ The undulating topographical feature of Dessie town (out of the total area of 7,200 hectares
of Dessie town, flat plain covers 10 percent, while 30 percent is plateau, and 60 percent is
mountainous (Dessie City Service, 2009)) also restricts spatial coverage of MSSE (since
they have only 9 human pushing carts for collection) as well as municipality collection truck
to be limited only to road side and flat areas.

In general from the above challenges of MSSE and personal observation of the researcher it is
possible to conclude that MSSE are not well organized, not well equipped with solid waste
collection materials and technologies, they suffer from lack of financial credit, technical and moral
support. As a result this the participation of MSSE restricted to collect waste from roadsides
residents, and centrally located kebelles. So, In order to solve the problem of the town MSWM the

53
municipality as well as the community should support them and should work a lot of activities to
improve them.

Similar to MSSEs, door to door collection of municipality truck also reached only to very few
residents (4.18 % of respondents) who are situated in central part of the town and along the main
roads. To get this service, even those residents have to wait for unknown period for the truck to
come and collect waste. People usually carry waste to the main road and wait for the truck. Due to
unknown collection schedule people may wait for the whole day and finally they either deal with
informal collectors or dump in illegal place.

Finally, these small contribution and very limited spatial coverage of MSSEs and municipality truck
together with unwillingness and incapability of households to pay monthly charge of MSSE, lead
large number of households turn their face to use informal collectors such as children, mentally
retarded peoples, daily workers or laborers by paying 2-5 birr on average or through feeding them
for picking waste once. As compared to MSSE informal collectors charge is low and also those
individuals are easily available at any time. For these reasons the people who are using informal
collectors accounts 60 (25.1%) of the total respondents. Although informal sectors are able to fill
huge gap of solid waste collection, there poor way of handling waste resulted in undesirable
environmental and health impacts. All of informal waste collectors simply dispose in unauthorized
places without any sense of accountability and responsibility unlike to MSSE.

Picture 4.9: Partial view of informal sectors illegal solid waste disposal. Source: field survey, 2011

54
4.6.2 Collection and Transportation of Solid Waste from Transfer Stations
According to the interview taken from head of SBPDD and my own field observations, in Dessie
town there is only one lifter truck used for transportation of solid waste from transfer stations to final
Membre Tsehay disposal site by loading metallic solid waste container. The vehicle carry only a
single container with a maximum capacity of 8 ݉ଷ (2960kg) at a time. On average, the vehicle make
about four trips per day instead of making 9 trips in line with total number of 9 transfer stations. The
driver told me that the collection of waste from these transfer stations is performed in accordance
with the schedule prepared by SBPDD. The schedule is categorized in to three collection
frequencies.

• daily collection from Arada (kebelle 04), nearby W/o Sihine TVT college (kebelle 05), and
Fasika hotel (kebelle 05) transfer sites,
• three times in every one week collection for transfer stations located behind Gion hotel
(kebelle 05), and in front of Memhir Akale Wold preparatory school (kebelle 09),
• Once in a week from the rest 4 transfer stations such as near Hotie high and preparatory
school (kebelle 09), in front of Zemagel primary school (kebelle 09), around Catholic high
school (kebelle 10) and behind Kidame Gebeya high school (kebelle 07).

Nonetheless, according to MSSE workers vehicle cannot work based on the above programs due to
carelessness or low motivation of the deriver, low control and follow up of SBPDD, problem created
on the truck, and unsuitability of roads particularly around disposal sites. They also told me that the
vehicle does not work in Saturday, Sunday and holidays because there is no peridem payment for
driver and other 5 workers of the truck. As a result, in many transfer stations of the town there is
nothing more than an urgent need removal of accumulated waste when it becomes intolerable and
complains raise. These situations make the town municipal solid waste collection and transportation
to be very low. I.e. on the basis of 4 trips, total amount of solid waste which is daily collected and
transported by municipality is 32݉ଷ or 11840kg (8݉ଷ × 4trips). But the actual daily generated solid
waste from all solid waste sources of the town is 136.11݉ଷ or 50360.7 kg. Therefore, only 23.51% of
municipal solid waste of the town is collected and transported. But the remaining 76.49 %
(104.11݉ଷ ) of solid wastes left is uncollected. This fact clearly indicates how the town municipal
solid waste management is very poor and below expectation.

55
4.7 Street Sweeping Activity in Dessie Town

In addition to collection of solid waste from transfer stations, street sweeping is also included in
municipal solid waste management service offered by SBPDD of Dessie town. The town has around
33.4 km asphalt roads. For cleaning these roads about 17 women sanitation workers are employed
with contract by SBPDD. Street sweeping takes place every day since it needs to be done more
frequently because of no street dustbins and regular generation of solid wastes like napkins, pieces of
paper, residual vegetables and fruits such as banana, orange etc. The street sweepers are separately
spaced on streets, and clean roads using brooms that gifted from the department. After cleaning they
used wheelbarrows to collect piles of solid wastes from streets, and then most commonly they burn it
in gullies around streets, load into municipality truck if it comes while doing their work, or else store
it in sack and placed in transfer station that located in front of Fasika hotel.

However, from my own observation and interview made with SBPDD head there is serious
shortages of manpower for street sweeping. The existing employees are not able to cover all streets
and in many cases particularly newly constructed 11km roads remained unclean and unpleasant to
see. Most of street sweeping takes place around the center of the town where streets are busy with
many activities. Moreover, residents are very careless to clean their front yards and street and see it
as the responsibility of the municipality. For example, about 77.41 % of respondents clean their
houses in every day. But, annually most of residents (62.76 %) participated on cleaning campaigns
of their surroundings on average 3-4 times. This clearly shows how communities give little attention
to clean their surroundings. Much of the residents of the town are only stressed to protect their home
but they do not care for others. Whatever the case may be, it is becoming a common problem both
for local people and municipality.

56
Picture 4.10: Partial view of indiscriminately dispose solid wastes in streets. Source: field survey,
2011
4.8 Solid Waste Disposal Practices in Dessie Town

4.8.1 Households’ Solid Waste Disposal Practices

As it is described earlier, door to door solid waste collection of the town is very insignificant both in
spatial coverage and efficiency. As a result, the only solid waste option of majority households is
restricted to two choices. The first one is simply burning, burying, or dumping of solid waste in their
compounds. While the second option is throwing of solid waste at roadsides, open fields, nearby
rivers, bridges and gullies. Hence in order to assess the routine method of solid waste disposal
practices of households and to know the destination of uncollected solid wastes, the researcher asked
sample respondents about their common disposal system. The survey result looks like the following.

57
 19(7.95 %)
25(10.46 %)

dipose at the road sides and open

fields
dumping in the nearby river
side’s, bridges and gullies
64(26.78 %)
burry or simply dispose inside my
compound
99(41.42 %) burn in my compound

wait until waste collectors come

back for collection
32(13.39 %)

Figure 4.2: Households solid waste disposal practices. Source: field survey, 2011

As it is observed in figure 4.2, quit large numbers of households (51.88%) preferred improper and
unauthorized solid waste practices. This confirmed that the destination of the majority of uncollected
solid wastes of households are in roads, sewers ,river banks, valleys, gullies, bridges, and open areas.
This improper disposal of solid waste exposed communities to different respiratory and water borne
diseases. Dessie health office report also proved this. Health office report shows that there are high
levels of diseases which are partly associated with solid waste.

58
Table 4.6 Dessie town administration health office 20 top disease in 2009

No Diseases % out of 20 tops Rank

1 Acute upper respiratory iract inflection 21.41 1

2 All other respiratory diseases 14.8 2

3 Other diseases of circulatory system 8.87 3

4 Gastritis and duodenitis 6.75 4

5 Other unspecified anemia 5.12 5

6 Other helminthes 5.07 6

7 Other unspecified malaria 4.53 7

8 Amoebiasis 3.98 8

9 Otitis external 3.17 9

10 Pneumoconiosis 3.12 10

11 All other diseases of skin 3.08 11

12 Bronchial asthma 2.76 12

13 Other diseases of the diseases of the digestive 2.72 13

All other infective & parasitic diseases 2.31 14

15 Infection of skin & subcutaneous tissue 2.31 15

16 Other unspecified dysentery 2.17 16

17 Inflammatory diseases of the eye 2.17 17

18 Broncho pneumonia 2.04 18

19 All other diseases of tooth &gums 1.9 19

20 All other diseases of genito urinary 1.72 20

Source: Dessie town health of report of 2009

As it is observed in table 4.6, From 20 top diseases the majority of them are partially caused by
inappropriate solid waste handling activity of residents.

59
On the other hand, illegal solid waste disposal of residents also closed and damaged sewerage
systems and force liquid waste stagnant in street sides. Typical views of this damage are shown in
the following pictures.

Picture 4.11: partial view of impacts of improper solid waste disposal. Source: field survey, 2011

As it is observed in picture 4.11 uncollected domestic waste is the most common cause of blockage
of drainage channels. It also covers pavements and other walk ways as well as filling the open
spaces. Households’ liquid waste also remains stagnant in the open street-side sewers and tends to be

60
a breeding ground for insects as well as being attractive to vermin. Therefore, the participation of the
whole community in the MSWM program of the town is very essential and highly expected to bring
changes on the existing low status of MSWM. However, irrespective of the above responsibilities
and expectations, the current role of community is poor and they are rather exacerbating the
problem.

The major reasons behind this illegal disposal of solid waste of residents are lack of clear and
adequate awareness about proper solid waste management system, cultural constraint which forces
the society to give low emphasis to sustainable solid waste management, lack of door to door solid
waste collection service, and absence of public solid waste containers. Based on the response of 29
SBPDD (90.63%) workers most of the town residents do not have a clear and adequate knowledge
about different components of solid waste management and their appropriate practice. For instance,
at the HH level residents are responsible for storing waste in a proper way and disposing it in right
and authorized manner using either MSSE, municipality vehicle or burning and burring, but the HH
not actively participate in using such activities rather most of them handle and dispose improperly.
In support of this from the total respondents’ large number of (62.76%) sample household also do
not have taken education and training about solid waste management by responsible body of the
town. But, around 94.14%of them are interested to learn more about solid waste management,
environmental impact of waste, and various ways of minimizing and treating the waste stream. The
method to receive the education by those respondents preferred is dominantly on solid waste
management campaign (29.71%), door to door education, and meetings (15.48%).

Table 4.7: Households’ choice of methods to receive education on solid waste management
Methods of educating households Frequency Percentage (%)
Meeting 37 15.48%
Brochures distributed to residents 23 9.62%
Solid waste management campaign 71 29.71%
door to door education 57 23.85%
Educational programs newsletter and magazines 11 4.6%
Educational programs in radio and television 20 8.37%
Through community organizations 20 8.37%
Total 239 100%
Source: field survey, 2011

61
4.8.2 Existing Situation and Management of Solid Waste Disposal Site

Solid waste collection and transportation is not an end to solid waste management. Proper solid
waste management also requires proper disposal of waste in a proper place. In sight of this Dessie
town solid waste disposal site and its management is inadequate and below the standard. The site
called Membere Tsehay is located at 2 km far from the center and generally described as open and
unsanitary landfill site. Under such condition the site has been functioning for the last 14 years.

Landfill site selection involves proper study of the site in relation to its topography, slope,
permeability, hydrology, accessibility, distance from incompatible land uses and acceptance by the
local community. In this regard, Membere Tsehay landfill site qualifies none of the above criteria
except being a low lying ground (naturally created gorge). The site is also characterized by poor road
infrastructure; especially in rainy seasons the problem is highly intensified. The site on average
receives about 32 m ଷ solid wastes with normal daily truck trip. The bottom line here is that the
site has various health and environmental problems. Some of the major problems associated with this
unsanitary open landfill include:

1. Indiscriminate solid waste disposal posed serious environmental and health risks especially
hazardous medical wastes of hospitals and health care units.
2. Due to high methane gas in the site, there is frequent fire which is a threat to human safety
and cause of air pollution.
3. Odor is also another problem at the disposal site which diminishes the quality of fresh air in
the surrounding area and causes residents be affected by different respiratory diseases.
4. There is high leachate generation from the site which has high potential for soil and ground
water as well as surface water contamination. For example, the site is bounded by Borkena
River in the southern direction and the leachate is directly flow and joins in to this river. In
addition, dumped solid waste of the site also goes to this river by water and wind erosion. As
a result of this, health of the surrounding residents and inhabitants is highly affected.
Especially those households who living at the lower part of the river are subjected to
different health problems since they use the river for agricultural as well as washing purpose.
5. The site is open to human scavengers and animals like monkey, dogs, goats, and sheep. This
situation caused solid waste scattering to the surrounding and posing health risk on the local
community.
62
Picture 4.12: Partial view of Membere Tshehay solid waste disposal site. Source: field survey, 2011

63
4.9 Institutional Arrangement and Capacity of Municipal Solid Waste Management
Service of Dessie Town

It is a common perception that improving solid waste management means making waste collection
and disposal systems more efficient, raising public awareness and enforcing solid waste management
laws. However, a prerequisite for all these factors are a well planned management operating within
an enabling institutional framework and capable of generating financial resources required to meet
operating, maintenance, and investment costs Antipolis (2000) in Obeng et al,(2008). So in order to
build an acceptable and satisfactory level of MSWM service, the responsible institution primarily
need to have well organized management that functions within an adequate institutional
arrangement, skilled manpower and financial resources, appropriate rule and regulation, short and
long term strategy, and good cooperation with different stakeholders. Otherwise, if one or more of
the aforementioned resources and frameworks are missing, then MSWM remains unattainable. This
is one key reason why MSWM of Dessie town is very poor in terms of status as well as spatial
coverage. Therefore, before trying to find any solutions to this problem, first of all it is important to
do detail assessment and get better understanding about the fundamental characteristics of the
institution which is responsible for delivery of MSWM in the town. Hence, in dealing with
institutional arrangement and capacity of MSWM service of Dessie town the researcher is focused
on organizational structure, strategic goal and objective, institutional mandate, human, material and
financial resources, enforcement of rules and regulations, and inter organizational and stakeholders
linkage.
4.9.1 Organizational Structure of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development
Department

It is obvious that for sound municipal solid waste management of any town, there should be well
arranged and capable institution. The opening pace towards building of this type of institution is
began from building clear, short and efficient organizational structure of responsible institution of
the town’s solid waste management. In line with these issues, Dessie town municipal solid waste
management system is organized under a jurisdiction of municipality in one of the eight work
process called Sanitation, Beautification, and Parks Development Department. Before it is
considered as one work process and gains the present structure, it was named as Dessie town
sanitation and parks office. But after the implementation of BPR nationwide, it obtained the current

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 SBPDD structure with constituting solid waste management, liquid waste management, town
beautification and parks development together. The town SBPDD is directly accountable to Dessie
town municipality office. Its internal arrangement constitutes one work process manager and five
different case teams but one case team is still not operational because of lack of expert on that
position. Structurally, the internal arrangement of the town’s SBPDD looks like this.

Mayor

Deputy Mayor

Land Design Service SBPD Cadastre Service Plan Illegal

supply & expansion work WP provision preparation, actions
& construct & process monitoring monitoring preventions
administ ion WP
administr & upset & evaluation & law
ration
WP ation WP acceptance WP enforcement
WP WP

Community needs Training & document Supply & Distribution & Solid waste reuse &
assessment & preparation expert repair follow control expert recycling follow up
planning expert up expert & supportive expert

Figure 4.3: Dessie town SBPDD organizational structure in 2011

As it is observed in figure 4.3 the new structure of work process seems interesting on the base of
minimizing bureaucracy and classification of works to different case teams. Despite this significant
and appreciated modification, there are still a lot of weaknesses which contributed for the present
inefficient MSWM of the town. The first and the most significant weakness is lack of practical
applications of such structures and their respective works since the department can’t avoid delay of
work process at ground level. The interview which was made with SBPDD workers and department
head also verify this. They told me that there is great holdup in decision making and implementation
process on municipal solid waste management due to long bureaucracy and low concern of higher
officials to SBPDD as compared to other eight work processes. Besides this, real decentralization of
functions and responsibilities between higher and lower officials is not existed.

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The existing work process is also exposed to high burden of work with three significant services
called liquid waste management, town beautification, and park development and solid waste
management. Accordingly, inadequate and improper distributions of resources (capital & equipment)
among these work processes are observed and the share of solid waste management became low as
compared to others based on the interview made with department workers. Furthermore, the
department has not also kebelle specific sanitation teams which used to create a two way
communication between community and SBPDD. So that by observing the above organizational
weaknesses of the department, one can easily realize that the department has not in a position to
provide a satisfactory solid waste management service.
4.9.2 Strategic Goal and Objectives of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks
Development Department
Following the new organizational structure execution, SBPDD of Dessie town sets its goal and
objective in its strategic plan. Accordingly, the goal that the department has set is ‘to make Dessie
clean, beautiful and hospitable town for residence as well as work’ and its objectives constitute:

• cleaning areas which are characterized by illegal solid waste disposal and change them to
greenery and parks
• improving the status of MSWM by outsourcing it to private sectors
• practicing reuse, recycle and compost preparation
• prepare sanitary landfill for permanent solid waste disposal
• encouraging the participation of community and other stakeholders through giving training and
support

However, these objectives are simply put for paper value rather than for practical problem solving.
For instance, from the above strategic objectives of the department three of them i.e. preparation of
sanitary landfill, giving training to the community and other stakeholders, and practicing reuse,
recycle and composting are not totally put in to operation. With regard to outsourcing of MSWM to
private sectors, the department has made a bid and gets one private investor who has the capacity to
collect the town’s solid waste using four vehicles. However, this effort was not successful due to
allegation of corruption in the process of selecting the appropriate winner of the bid. Therefore, this
case is still undecided. On the other hand, the department has done little on mobilizing various actors
to involve in solid waste management through community participation and partnership creation.

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4.9.3 Institutional Mandate of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development
Department

Contrary to the crucial goal and objectives of SBPDD, the mandate given to the department is only
limited to MSWM service provision i.e. collection, transportation and disposal of town’s solid waste.
But, other related critical mandates are given to the town’s law and order enforcing office and health
office according to the new organizational structure and 2000 hygiene and environmental health
regulation of Amhara regional state. For instance, law and order enforcing office has the
responsibility to control illegal solid waste disposal and penalize dwellers when they throw wastes in
unauthorized places. Whereas health office has the following mandates:

• formulate rules and regulations related to solid waste management

• undertake public awareness creation programs
• monitor and supervise town sanitation service,
• contact municipality to pick waste frequently, and to construct solid waste infrastructures for
those who do not have such facilities

Nevertheless, because of loose cooperation and low emphasis of those organizations, this type of
work process created a great weakness on the town’s MSWM. According to the department manager
explanation this situation resulted additional burden of collecting illegally dumped solid waste to
SBPDD.

4.9.4 Rules and Regulations of Municipal Solid Waste Management, and Its Status of
Enforcement

Since Dessie town SBPDD has no mandate to prepare its own rule and regulation, it follows solid
waste management related rules and regulations derived from hygiene and environmental health
regulation of Amhara regional state adopted in 2000 and 2002. These rules and regulations are
largely emphasized on solid waste handling responsibilities and obligations of persons,
establishments, and institutions. It didn’t include specified rules which are focused on institutional
issues of SBPDD, different stakeholders’ participation, and sustainable solid waste management
system. Apart from this there is also low enforcement of those existed rules and regulations

67
according to 143(61.09%) response of samples and my own field observation. Furthermore, there is
no awareness creation activity to community about rules and regulations. There was a question
forwarded to the respondents on whether they know the rules and regulations of solid waste
management of the town or not. In response to this, more than ¾ (76.57%) of sample households did
not know the town’s rules and regulations related with solid waste management. Therefore, the
absence of regulatory framework and low enforcement of rules and regulations hindered effective
solid waste collection, storage and disposal system of the town at large.

4.9.5 Inter-Organization Linkage of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development

Department

Inter organizational linkage refers to a multi dimensional interactions between two or more
institutions on the basis of their organizational principles and expected responsibilities to perform
their respective roles. So, enhancing inter organizational integration is very important to improve
MSWM through creating functional interdependences such as experience sharing, and supportive
activities. This collaboration can also facilitate information exchange between them and initiate
organizations to actively taking part in solid waste activities in particular and promoting public
health and environmental protection in general.

Based on the strategic plan of SBPDD of Dessie town, there are several organizations which are
identified for cooperation in solid waste management of the town. These are town administration
office, health office, law and order securing office, urban agricultural office, micro and small
enterprise office, information and communication office, and kebelle sanitation agents. Based on this
strategic plan, all the above organizations have their own responsibilities which are expected to play
in sanitation, beautification and park development of the town. Nevertheless, according to the
majority (67%) responses of SBPDD workers, health office, law and order securing office, micro
and small enterprise office and kebelle sanitation agents are the only organizations which have been
involved in solid waste management activity of the town.

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Table 4.8: List of organizations and their expected aspect of involvement in solid waste management

List of organization Expected aspects of involvement

Town administration office Creation of suitable conditions including good governance and
due emphasis to sanitation, beautification and parks
development.
Health office Protect health of the society through controlling and supporting
solid waste management of the town like supervision and
awareness creation.
law and order enforcing office They have the power and responsibility to penalize and control
illegal dumping of solid waste.
Urban Agricultural office Give support to development of different areas, work with
different stakeholders about compost and other related works
Information and Communication Documentation of several SBPDD activities and
office communicating it to the society and other actors in order to
upgrade their participation
Kebelle sanitation agents organize society for sanitation campaign and also supervise and
control illegal solid waste disposal in each kebelles
Micro and small enterprise office Organize MSSE solid waste collectors
Source: SBPDD strategic plan, 2011

Despite the importance of inter organizational linkages, SBPDD lacks well integrated linkages
among different offices and institutions which are vital for effective and efficient way of handling
solid wastes in the town. About 87% of SBPDD workers revealed that there is no strong linkage
among different bodies at grass root level. If there are some linkages it is at high level and very
formal and too bureaucratic to be operational. Furthermore, lack of clearly stated duties and
responsibilities among different offices has made the situation more complicated and led to
fragmented actions by different offices.

4.9.6 Effort of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department to

Participate Different Stakeholders on MSWM

For many services that are delivered in many urban areas of the world, stakeholders’ participation is
regarded as a backbone because delivery of one big service by one actor makes the service very
difficult and complex. However, the involvement of various stakeholders with their specialization
can make the service provision easy, satisfactory and efficient. Similar to this, for proper
management of MSW of a given town and to keep its sustainable functioning, participation of

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stakeholders also plays determinant and irreplaceable role. Those stakeholders of MSWM comprise
community and community based organizations (CBOs), nongovernmental organizations and
external support agencies, and formal and informal private sectors. In developed countries, all these
groups and individuals do play an important role beginning from policy preparation to provision of
waste collection, resource recovery, and supplying waste collection equipment. However, in
developing countries, it is recently that some urban authorities have recognized these actors, and
eventually integrated them in to their MSWM systems (Achankeng, 2004).

Even contrary to some urban authorities of developing countries, Dessie town SBPDD is
characterized by absence of stakeholders’ involvement in strategy formulation, and insignificant
participation of MSSE, informal sectors, and community on actual operation of MSWM. On the
other hand, although there are 138 well functional and socially organized local area associations
called ‘Iddirs’, and 10 woman and 20 youth associations in Dessie town, none of these CBOs are
participating in town’s MSWM. Moreover, according to the interview made with head of SBPDD,
there are also no NGOs and donor agencies, and formal private sectors that are operating in MSWM
of the town. This too low participation of stakeholders is created by SBPDD, kebelle officials, and
health office of the town because of their failure to practice their responsibilities of:
• awareness rising activities
• financial, technical, material and moral support
• establishment of suitable institutional environment for motivating stakeholders towards solid
waste management

Therefore, those governmental institutions should recognize their defect and give great emphasis to
initiate stakeholders’ participation. Because, at the very beginning efficiency of solid waste
management service could be real if and only if stakeholders are aware of their responsibilities and
tries to practice it with a higher level of commitment, otherwise the movement to provide MSWM
service without holding them is considered as clapping by one hand.

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4.9.7 Institutional Capacity of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development
Department

Institutions play vital roles in guiding change, facilitating development and succeeding national
socio economic and political goals if they are well equipped in terms of various types of resources.
These dominant resources which determine an institutional capacity are: human, material, and
financial resources. Otherwise, they can cause for failure of designed goal since the management of
an institution with a relatively low capacity has its own impact on its effectiveness. With this
intention, in order to manage solid waste properly the capacity of institution that is delegated with
MSWM of the town also needs to be raised to a higher level with adequate budget, man power,
technical skills and equipment used. But, status of the existing institutional capacity of MSWM in
Dessie town is basically inadequate arising out of insufficient manpower, financial, and material
resources.

4.9.7.1 Human Resource Capacity of SBPDD

The most important factors that have influenced level and quality of operation of solid waste
management services related with manpower of resource are actual size and required size, job
requirement and actual qualification of staff, recruitment qualification, payment system, staff
management activities like incentives and promotional opportunities, adequacy of waste
management training and technical assistances, and moral aspiration of workers. As a result, to gain
a better understanding of the human resource capacity of SBPDD of Dessie town, questionnaire
which focused the above factors was prepared and distributed to all solid waste related workers and
an interview with the head of the department was made in addition to secondary data received from
the department.

According to the work process manual of the SBPDD, the present arrangement of the department
was prepared in order to hold 160 workers. Among this, around 90 workers ( i.e. except 2 water
supply pipeline stretching and repair workers,4 liquid waste derivers and his assistance, 12 truck
assistants, 52 beauty development workers) are involved in provision of solid waste management in
Dessie town. However, as it is clearly observed in table 5.1, currently the department continues its
function using only 34 (37.78%) manpower but the remaining 39(62.22%) workers are not

71
employed. From this it is possible to conclude that the department has very weak manpower and this
condition can be considered as a major problem for the existing MSWM activity of the town. Based
on the information obtained from interview made with the manager, the reason behind this
inadequacy of manpower is lack of budget and low attention given by the department as well as
higher officials to employ. On the other hand, with respect to qualification of workers most of them
are assigned in appropriate position with reference to the department manual except 3 official
workers.

Table 4.9: SBPDD existing human resources and required number of workers related with solid
waste management task in 2011
Job title Recruitment Required no Existing no Vacant
type of workers of workers positions

WP manager Permanent 1 1 -

WP assistant (secretary) Permanent 1 1 -

Community need assessment & planning Permanent 5 4 1

expert

Training & document preparation expert Permanent 3 - 3

Solid waste reuse & recycling follow up Permanent 2 2 -

& supportive expert

Distribution & control expert Permanent 2 2 -

Supply & repair follow up expert Permanent 1 - 1

Town sanitation workers Contract 25 5 20

Driver( Solid waste collection vehicle) Permanent 2 1 1

Assistant( Solid waste collection vehicle) Permanent 2 1 1

Street sweepers (one person for 500 meter Contract 46 17 29

square)

Total 90 34 56

Source: Dessie town SBPDD WP manual, 2011(for detail understanding of this survey see
appendix6)

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In addition to shortage of manpower, failure to address fundamental need of workers such as salary
increments, incentives, recruitment type, and promotion opportunities are also considered as second
main reason that contributed to low MSWM of the town. For instance, for many tasks of solid waste
management the department depends on contractually employed workers. From the total workers of
the department only 21.11% of them are permanent employees where as the remaining 78.89 % are
employed in contract. Although these workers registered a good experience (i.e. 87 % of them are
above 5 years) on these positions and carried out the most risky type of work, the department is not
willing to change them to permanent workers. Accordingly, all of those workers response and field
observation revealed that they are less motivated at work.

Besides this, the contractual workers are also extremely upset by their low salary as well as absence
of salary increment. Specifically, the monthly salary of these staffs is 390 birr for street sweepers,
366 birr for town sanitation workers and 1165 birr for driver. Genuinely speaking, this amount of
salary is not matching with their difficult task, present inflation of money and high living expense.
Related with this the workers stated that they are found in a big and difficult situation together with
their family. In addition to this, these workers are also required to work around 8 hours in every day
without any monthly or annual vacation or leisure time including Saturday, Sunday and holydays. In
such type of wok loads over time payment is the only means of compensation but SBPDD workers
do not receive any form of over time payment. The department is not also fulfilling its
responsibilities of provision of appropriate health protection gears like gloves, shoes, clothes etc and
health insurance. As a result, most of the department workers are motivated to leave their jobs.
Currently, there are three workers that resigned from their jobs. This shows that the department will
face a more severe job retention problem.

4.9.7.2 Financial Resource Capacity of SBPDD

Finance is a very decisive factor for any public service delivery in any town or country. On the other
hand, an environment which is safe and healthy for human beings is also a requirement for any town
or country. Therefore, one country or town should provide adequate finance to conserve and manage
its environment in general and its solid waste in particular because solid waste is one of the problems
which damage the urban environment. Different from this, in Dessie town the provision of adequate
funding for MSWM is a sever challenge which causes the town environment to be deteriorated. It is
73
characterized by poor budget for service delivery, insufficient funding for building infrastructures
and absence of appropriate cost recovery mechanisms.

At present, the budget of SBPDD of Dessie town together with other eight service sectors of
municipality is released from finance and economic development office (FEDO) under the
jurisdiction of municipality. Because, the total budget that needs to provide to the MSWM is covered
only by the municipality as part of its yearly budget. This made the town supply of MSWM service
to be highly dependent on the town municipality capacity to ensure adequate municipal revenue.
And this finally results very weak financial performance of solid waste management service of the
town since the municipality cannot collect adequate annual revenue to run all work processes. For
example, in the last 3 years the total budget allocated for municipal office and sanitation and
beautification department was around 135,678 birr in 2007, 148,456 birr in 2008, and 180,417.60
birr in 2009 with an increasing rate related with an increase in total municipal budget.

Table 4.10: Total budget of SBPDD compared to total budget of municipality in 2009
Year Total budget of Total budget allocated to SBPDD Percentage share of SBPDD
municipality

2007 58,530,948 135,678 0.23 %

2008 58,748,832 148,456 0.25 %

2009 61,479,672.95 180,417.60 0.29 %

Total 178,795,452.95 464,551.60 0.26 %

Source: Dessie town FEDO, 2009 report

However, when the total budget for SBPDD (464,551.60 birr) is compared to the total municipality
budget of 178,795,452.95 birr, it only covered an insignificant part of it (0.26 %). From this situation
one can understand that the municipality’s budget allocation to these eight sectors has not been
carried out based on the requirement of fund for service provision but simply it is based on the
available fund since the budget is most often inadequate due to low revenue collection performance
of the municipality. Head of the SBPDD is also share this idea and he told me that for releasing the
actual budget to the eight sectors the municipality asked them to present their future plan. Then the
distribution of budget in each sector is mainly under taken with respect to the higher office emphasis
given to each sector without considering the proposed budget request of each sector. On the basis of

74
this inequitable distribution of funding across sectors, the majority of financial resource was
allocated to those sectors which have given greater emphasis by the higher officials of the
municipality. Whereas sectors like SBPDD received very low budget as it has obtained little
attention by higher officials. To validate this, he also showed me the gap of 2010 plan of the
department and actual implementation due to lack of budget.

Table 4.11: Solid waste management related plan of SBPDD for 2010

List of solid waste facilities Measurement Plan Actually implemented

Number Percent (%)

Preparation of new disposal site Number 1 0 0

Purchasing solid waste storage basket Number 144 0 0

Purchasing public solid waste containers Number 30 5 16.66%

Preparing permanent place for public SW Number 30 5 16.66%

containers

Purchasing public SW container nets Number 3 0 0

Purchasing SW collection vehicles Number 1 0 0

Total Number 209 10 4.78%

Source: Dessie town SBPDD report, 2010

As one can easily see from table 4.11, most of listed plans of SBPD are not implemented because of
adequate fund. Specifically, from around 209 different solid waste management equipment requests
of the department only 10 (4.78%) were purchased which is far below from adequate level.
According to the department manager, this very low financial capacity of the department is also be a
big barrier to perform the future solid waste management projects successfully.

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 Table 4.12: Solid waste management related five year (2011-2015) plan projects

List of projects Measurement Quantity Time table Estimated

cost
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Building sanitary Number 1 12,000000

landfill √
Purchasing solid Number 1 √ 2,000000
waste lifter truck

Purchasing Door Number 3 √ √ 1,200,000

to door SW
collection truck

Building transfer Number 4 √ √ 400,000

stations

Appropriate mଷ 180,000 36000 36000 36000 36000 36000

Solid waste
disposal

Purchasing Number 35 15 15 5 600,000

public solid
waste container

Total 16,200000

Source: Dessie town SBPDD strategic plan, 2011.

As table 4.12 indicates, in order to put projects in to operation and make the town solid waste
management efficient and sustainable, municipality needs around 16,200,000 birr. But with the
previous budget experiences of the department it is quite difficult to implement these plans. So, the
best way to contribute for enhancing the department financial capacity is to give opportunities for
involvement of private sector in service delivery and tied to collect charge from the service users as
well as private sectors.

To a great extent, the immediate cause for all financial constraints is inefficient methods of revenue
collection of municipality together with lack of financial decentralization (i.e. absence of financial
autonomy between each sector particularly in determining their own expenditures). For instance
apart from the municipality budget, the SBPDD has not other revenue means even if there are a lot

76
of revenue generating mechanisms like introducing user charges, treatment plants and hazardous
waste disposal, penalties for persons who illegally dispose waste, resource recovery (composting,
energy recovery) etc. According to the work process manager, the main reason behind this is not due
to lack of knowledge or information about those cost recovery mechanisms but it is lack of power to
collect such revenues. For instance, solid waste collection service fee (around 3 Ethiopian birr per
household) in the last year was undertaken by the municipality even though currently it is not
practiced. Waste fees like any fees of other municipal services were considered as a municipal
source of income by the municipality and compiled as municipal budget for improving other sectors
of the town rather than allocation of it to MSWM service improvement. In addition to this, the power
of penalizing persons who illegally dispose their waste given to health office and security office, the
only role of SBPDD is giving service to the residents and reporting illegal activities of citizens to
those bodies. Therefore, more power should be devoted to the department, and legal responsibilities
should be made to match the required financial resources, so that the department can effectively
perform the duties assigned to it. Otherwise, solid waste management in the town will continue to
suffer with shortage of financial resource since it is very difficult for waste management system to
be effective without generating its own efficient and sustainable revenue base. More than this it is
also very difficult to successfully perform the future five year solid waste management projects
which require around16, 200,000 birr.

4.9.7.3 Municipal Solid Waste Management Equipments

In the process of municipal solid waste management there are various facilities/infrastructure that
should be accomplished for providing efficient and effective service to citizens. But this facilities are
highly correlated with the economic performance and good institutional concern of a given town or
country. For instance, it is possible to observe developed countries which give high concern or
attention to solid waste management and used different sophisticated technologies for managing it.
Opposed to this, in developing countries solid waste management is mainly under taken by very
inefficient equipments and technologies due to low level of economic development and low attention
given to this service. The situation of MSWM infrastructures or facilities in Dessie town is also not
different from the rest of developing countries. Currently, the SBPDD of the town runs this service
with supplying only one solid waste collection, transportation and dumping truck. Besides this, the
department has one disposal site 2 km away from the center of the town. Obviously these amounts of

77
equipment or facilities are not sufficient to convey the service when we compared with the rapid
expansion of the town and the level of increasing waste generation rate of the society. In addition to
shortage of equipment, the problem of MSWM in the town is also exacerbated by poor quality of
truck and frequent break of it. For instance, we can take the old car which served for around14 years.
Because of this the average frequency of collection of the car is inadequate on average it is limited to
4 trips per day. This low service of the truck, it also exposed the department to a lot of expenses for
fuel, tyre, filter, spare parts and maintenance.

Table 4.13: Amount of employees and vehicle related expenses in the year 2010.
Types of expenditure Expenditure (birr)in 2010

Employees related expense 23691

Vehicle related expenses

Fuel 62830

Tyre 14730

Spare parts 9108

Oil and filter 3180

Total 89,848

Grand Total 113539

Source: SBPDD annual report, 2010

Table 4.13 revealed that in 2010 department spends around 89,848 birr for such vehicle related
expenses. Vehicle running cost on average consume almost 4 times of the total expenses for the
department workers even if the MSWM service of the town is dominantly labor intensive and
workers are the major resources who work with other technologies or facilities.

Apart from this, absence of public storage facilities such as public storage containers and dust bin is
also another problem area that greatly minimizes the performance of MSWM service of the town
and it is regular to observe accumulated solid wastes like plastics, papers, food wastes etc on
different parts of the town like the street, open areas, rivers etc. On the other hand, the problem on
implementation of the proposed plan of the department which aimed to improve the facilities
through purchasing different equipments is worsening the low efficiency of SWM the town.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion

This paper has attempted to analyze the status and spatial coverage of municipal solid waste
management service of Dessie town in general. In particular, the study explored households’ solid
waste physical composition and generation rate, household’s solid waste management practice, and
institutional structure and capacity of sanitation, beautification and parks development department
(SBPDD) of the town. These investigations were addressed by employing questionnaires, field
observation, field measurement, semi structured and unstructured interview with head and workers
of SBPDD, and reviewing published and unpublished documents. Finally, on the basis of qualitative
and quantitative analysis of data, the findings of this study are summarized as follows.

The principal sources of municipal solid wastes in Dessie town are residences, commercial areas,
street sweeping, institutions, and small scale industries. However, the considerable amount of solid
waste of the town (60%) is generated from residential areas. Though this source has such large
dominance, the town’s SBPDD didn’t make frequent and ongoing inspections on its solid waste
composition and generation rate. But, this study found out solid waste generation rate of household,
it is about 0.231kg/person/day. This made the daily and annual total solid waste generation of
residential areas of the town to 100.91݉ଷ (37337.223kg) and 36832.15݉ଷ (13627895.5kg)
respectively. Furthermore, according to this study about 75.6 % of residential areas solid waste is
composed of biodegradable solid wastes such as ash, dust, and food waste. This composition is very
suitable to make compost. This is the best way of sustainable solid waste management both in terms
of economic and environmental value. But, there is no activity made by the town SBPDD, as well as
other actors towards application of this potential resource.

This study also indicated that Dessie town municipal solid waste management service is very weak
in terms of status, spatial coverage and solid waste management facility. Presently, in the town there
are no public solid waste storage containers and road side dust bins. As substitution of these facilities
there are 9 communal solid waste transfer stations that give service only to MSSE waste collectors.

79
Those stations are located at the edge of main roads, and they are not well designed. Simply they are
road side open dumps without any health, aesthetic and environmental impact considerations.
Besides this, those transfer stations are also characterized by uneven distribution both in terms of
distance from beneficiaries and kebelle specific locations. Furthermore, municipal solid waste
collection and transportation activity of the town is carried out by two types of collection methods
such as door to door and transfer stations solid waste collection. Door-to-door collection system is
provided by MSSE waste collectors and rarely by municipality collection truck. It is largely
implemented for collection of solid waste from residential areas to transfer stations. But, the status
and spatial coverage of this service is very unsatisfactory, only covers residents who are living in the
center of the town and along accessible streets. Whereas the transfer stations collection method is
directly performed by the SBPDD using its collection truck. Based on average trip of a truck, the
total amount of solid waste which is daily collected and transported by the municipality is calculated
as 32݉ଷ or 11840kg but the actual daily generated solid waste from all sources of the town is about
136.11݉ଷ or 50360.7kg. Therefore, only 23.51% of the municipal solid waste of the town is
collected and transported to Member Tshehay disposal site of the town. As a result of this, huge
amounts of uncollected solid wastes are indiscriminately disposed in unauthorized areas. In addition
to poor solid waste collection and transportation practice, the town disposal site is also found in
unacceptable and very risky situation. Because, it is simply naturally created gorge rather than
manually prepared solid waste dumping through environmental, economical and social impact
considerations.

Finally, this research investigated three main factors which are exacerbating the existing poor status
of municipal solid waste management service of Dessie town. These are:

1. Very weak institutional arrangement and capacity of sanitation, beautification and parks
development department.

Structurally, SBPDD is twisted by: long bureaucracy and delay in implementation of activities, lack
of practical decentralization of power and regular interference of higher officials, absence of kebelle
specific structure of the department, and high burden of work with three significant services (liquid
waste management, town beautification and park development, and solid waste management). In
terms of capacity, very poor institutional capacity of the department is arising out of:

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 • very low financial capacity
• absence of cost recovery mechanism and financial autonomy
• insufficient manpower resource
• low motivation and productivity of workers due to failure to address fundamental
need of workers
• scarcity of solid waste management facilities
• weak enforcement of rules and regulations
• fragile networks and linkage of the department with other sectors and organizations
• mandate restrictions of the department

2. Very poor solid waste management practices of the town households

The first weakness of households is poor handling of temporary storage material of their house. I.e.
they drop out solid waste around it. They also exposed it to rain and light, did not well covered, and
placed near to residence. Second, the greater part of the town households didn’t separately store
solid wastes other than salable and exchangeable with Liwach and Quraleos. They did not also carry
out sustainable solid management activities such as recycling, reusing and composting. Apart from
this they regularly apply illegal solid waste disposal. Moreover, they have also low emphasis to
clean their surrounding area and nearby road.

3. Very limited participation and contribution of stakeholders

The provision of municipal solid waste management of the town is dominantly performed by
municipality with very limited contribution of MSSE, solid waste miners and handcrafts, and
communities. Besides this, there is no involvement of CBOs, NGOs, and private sector.

81
 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of this study, the following measures are very important to overcome MSWM
problems of Dessie town:

1. Education related measures

¾ The residents of Dessie town have low awareness and knowledge about solid waste
management issues. This clearly indicates the need of wider public awareness creation
activities. So that the SBPDD as well as health office of the town should deliver adequate
training and awareness creation to residents about side effects of solid waste, and application of
sustainable solid waste management practices. In this case, there is a need to give special
attention to women who are the most powerful change agent.

2. Institution related measures

9 Give majority of MSWM related mandates to SBPDD of the town since the fundamental part
of MSWM activities are performed by this body.
9 Prepare sound SBPDD institutional arrangement that is free from high interference of higher
officials and bureaucracy, which have both horizontal and vertical integration and kebelle
specific teams, allows stakeholders participation, and characterized by real decentralization of
tasks and authority.
9 The town SBPDD should give priority to fulfill infrastructure facilities i.e. place back the
public solid waste containers and introduce dust bins with a close supervision, frequent
emptying of waste and even distribution.
9 Organize efficient controlling mechanism and sanitation agent to prevent illegal solid waste
disposal
9 Increase SBPDD revenue through employing different revenue means like introducing user
charges, penalties for persons who illegally dispose their waste, employing resource recovery
activities, and government subsidies. But the department should also introduce cost accounting
financial monitoring and financial evaluation.
9 Improve solid waste collection by preparing permanent programs, increasing the number of
collection trucks, by employing other methods of collection like block and curbside

82
 collections, control and supervision field workers, increase human resource of the department,
increase the number and strength of MSSEs.
9 Improve the number and productivity of sanitation workers by giving reasonable salary
increment, perdiam payment, moral respect, training, promotion opportunities, changing their
requirement type, and providing health insurance and health protection facilities
9 Prepare specified rules and regulations that focused on local problems such as institutional
issues about the town’s MSWM service responsible body, stakeholder’s participation and
sustainable solid waste management options, and strictly enforce this rules and regulation
under close supervision and inter organizational linkage.

3. Stakeholder related measures

™ SBPDD open its door to private sectors and also ensure their involvement in planning and
implementation of municipal solid waste management activities.
™ Promote and initiate communities and different CBOs of the town to involve in solid waste
management. In addition organize voluntary groups that work on MSWM through giving
different incentives and providing necessary equipments that used for solid waste management
™ SBPDD of the town create interaction with NGOs and donor agencies and watch these bodies
as partner for delivery of MSWM, because they are one means’s to get financial support for
purchasing different solid waste management facilities, managerial and technical skill building
trainings. In addition, they can also provide awareness rising and skill building support to
community based groups (Iddirs, youth, and women), informal sectors, formal sectors, and also
to the SBPDD itself.
™ Recognizing and encouraging the emerging role of handcrafts through reduction of taxes, and
by providing space and equipments to produce recycled materials and creation of market for it.

83
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swm/basicsofSWM.pdf
 APPENDIX 1

Questionnaire prepared for sample households in Dessie town

This Questionnaire is prepared for an academic purpose for the fulfillment of MA degree in
Geography and Environmental studies. Specifically the objective of the study is to assess the current
practice, infrastructural and institutional capacity of municipal solid waste management service in
Dessie town. Therefore, your response is very important for the success of the study because all
information that you provide determines the analysis and conclusion of the research. Hence, you are
kindly requested to give your response by selecting (circling) your answer from the given alternative
choice or describing your opinion. Please be informed that your response is kept in confidential and
you are not required to write your name. I would like to thank you for your cooperation.

Part one: Background information about the respondents

Instruction: In order to answer the following questions, put a right sign (√) in the boxes that located
in front of your choice.

1. Sex: Male Female

2. Age

3. Educational level: No formal education 1-4 grade complete

5-8 grades complete 9-12 grades complete

Certificate diploma

First degree Second degree and above

4. House ownership condition:

Kebelle rental house private rental house private house

5. Family size: .

6. Average monthly income (in birr):

Less than 500 501-1000 1001-1500

1500-2000 greater than 2000

7. Kebelle

Part two: Questionnaire prepared for investigating households solid waste management
awareness, and practice together with their attitude regarding municipal solid waste
management of the town.

1. How often do you clean your house

A. Every day B. with two days interval C. with three days interval

D. with one week interval E. if others please specify it .

2. How many solid waste storage materials do you use to store solid wastes produced in your
dwelling?
3. What type of solid waste storage material do you use in your house to store solid waste produced
from your dwelling?
A. sack B. basket C. metal container D. plastic container (‘festal’)
E. private pit F. I don’t use G. if others please specify it .
4. Do you separately store solid wastes that are produced in your house and salable to “Quraleos”
and exchange with “Liwach”?
A. yes B. no
5. If your answer for question no 4 is ‘yes’, which of the following items do you separate for
selling it to “Quraleos” and exchange to “Liwach” (possible to select more than one)?
A. Metals, B. Plastics C. Glass, bottles, can etc. D. Organic wastes
E. Electronic wastes F. textile and old shoes G. if other please specifies it
6. Do you separate other solid wastes produced in your dwelling apart from solid wastes which are
salable to “Quraleos” and “Liwach”?
A. yes B. no
7. If your answer for question no 6 is ‘yes’, state the type of those solid waste?

8. If your answer for question no 6 is ‘yes’, for what purpose do you separately store (possible to
select more than one)?
A. Using as fertilizer B. giving to other users C. to use as fuel D. to use as
feeding animals E. to recover resources by using my own effort
 F. for reducing the volume of waste, makes throwing convenient and contributing to
environmental protection. G. if other please specify it .
9. Do you know the idea of solid waste recycling and reusing?
A. yes B. no
10. If your answer for question no 9 is ‘yes’, do you recycle or reuse solid wastes generated from
your house? A. yes B. no
11. If your answer for question no 9 is ‘yes’, what type of materials do you reuse and recycle
(possible to select more than one)?
A. used Paper B. used glasses, bottles and glass materials. C. used metallic
materials D. used plastics and plastic materials E. textile and used umbrellas
F. if other please specify it
12. If your answer for question no 9 is ‘no’, please describe your reasons.

.
13. Do you know that compost can be prepared from solid waste?
A. yes B. no
14. If your answer for question no 13 is ‘yes’ do you prepare compost from solid waste produced in
your house? A. yes B. no
15. Do you have access to door to door solid waste collection service delivered from the
municipality solid waste collection vehicle?
A. Yes B. No
16. If your answer for question no 15 is ‘yes’, in how many days interval you get this service?
A. 1-3 days B. 4-7 days C. 8-15 days D. 16-30 days E. above
30 days F. as available
17. Do you use MSE for door to door solid waste collection from your residence?
A. Yes B. No
18. If your answer for question no 17 is ‘yes’, in how many days interval you get this service?
A. 1-3 days B. 4-7 days C. 8-15 days D. 16-30 days E. above
30 days
F. as available
19. If your answer for question no 17 is ‘yes’, how much do you pay for the service render per
month.
20. Do you use informal sectors such as daily workers, laborers, and mentally retarded people for
door to door solid waste collection from your residence?
A. Yes B. No
21. If your answer for question no 20 is ‘yes’, how much do you pay for the service render per
month, and specify solid waste service provider criteria for fixing your charge.

.
22. Apart from the above bodies what are other means you frequently use to dispose the solid waste
of your household?
A. at the road sides and open fields E. dumping in river side’s and gullies
B. dumping in bridges F. burn in my compound
C. burry inside my compound G. if other please specify
D. simply dispose in my compound
23. Do you need the containers back again under regular follow up and place in your surrounding?
A. Yes B. No
24. Does solid waste management service in your area is a burning issue as it compared with other
service like road service, water supply etc.
A. yes B. no C. if other please specify it .
25. Have you ever obtained training, education or information about solid waste management, and
environmental and other problems created due to carelessly thrown solid waste?
A. yes B. no
26. Would you be interested to learn more about solid waste management, environmental impact of
waste, and various ways of minimizing and treating the waste stream?
A. yes B. no
27. If so, what would be your favored method of increasing your knowledge?
A. open seminars B. Brochures distributed to residents
C. solid waste management campaign D. door to door education
 E. Educational programs newsletter and magazines F. Educational programs in radio and
television
G. Exhibitions presenting good practices in solid waste management, sorting and recycling
H. other (please specify)
28. Have you ever participated in a cleanup campaigns in your kebelle?
A. yes B. no
29. If your answer for question no 28 is “yes”, how many times you participate in the last
year .
30. Do you know the rules and regulations of solid waste management of the town?
A. yes B. no
31. Have you ever seen the sanitation agent making supervision and control on illegal dumping of
solid wastes on the streets, open areas, river side’s and other areas?
A. yes B. no
32. In general, are you satisfied with the municipal solid waste management service of the town
which is delivered by sanitation, beautification and park development of Dessie under the
jurisdiction of municipality?
A. Very satisfactory B. satisfactory C. fair D. unsatisfactory E. very
unsatisfactory
33. How do evaluate the effort made by the municipality to provide efficient solid waste
management service compared with other services of the town such as water supply, electricity,
telephone etc.

A. Very weak B. weak C. fair D. strong E. very strong

34. If your answer for question no 32 is ‘unsatisfactory or very unsatisfactory’, what would you
suggest for the Environment and Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Department
to do in order to overcome the constraints and improve the service?

If you have any additional comments, suggestions, or would like to elaborate on any of your
previous answers, please include it here, or attach a separate sheet.
 APPENDIX 2

Interview questions prepared for Sanitation, Beautification and Parks

Development Department workers of Dessie town

Dear respondent this interview is conducted for an academic purpose for the fulfillment of MA
degree in Geography and Environmental studies. Specifically the objective of the study is to assess
the current practice, infrastructural and institutional capacity of municipal solid waste management
service in Dessie town. Therefore, your response is very important for the success of the study
because all information that you provide determines the analysis and conclusion of the research.
Hence, you are kindly requested to give your response. Please be informed that your response is kept
in confidential. I would like to thank you for your cooperation.

Part one: Background information about the respondents

1. Job title in your department .

2. Employment condition

Permanent contract

3. Educational level
No formal education 1-4 grade complete
5-8 grades complete 9-12 grades complete
Certificate diploma
First degree Second degree and above
4. Work experience .
5. Monthly salary .
6. Family size
Part two: structured Questions prepared for investigating MSWM practice and capacity
together with their attitude regarding households’ solid waste management of the town.

1. Have you ever been participated in solid waste management trainings or education given in our
country?
2. Does your institution give incentives, promotions and salary increment to you?
3. If your answer for question no 2 is ‘yes’, how do you evaluate the level of training, education,
incentives, promotions and salary increment opportunities offered to MSWM workers?

4. Does your SBPD department work with other government and non government organization in
its solid waste management operations? If your department works, please list the organization
and their activities on solid waste management of the town.

5. How do you evaluate your institution status on interaction with other government and non
government organizations regarding MSWM of the town?

6. How do you see the institutional arrangement of SBPDD? Does such arrangement have any
problem on the efficient performance of your division? If it has please explain it?
7. Do you feel your organization has efficient capacity to handle MSWM responsibilities?
8. Do you think the controlling mechanism of municipality it is effective? If your answer is “no”,
what do you think the reasons?
9. Do you work on Saturday and Sunday per time? If you work, do you get over time payment?
10. Do your collection, transportation and disposal service cover all parts of the town? If it not
covered, please specify the major reasons?
11. Are you provided with medical care, safety wares, and other materials that are necessary to keep
your health?
12. Do you think residents of Dessie have clear and adequate awareness about solid waste
management systems?
13. Municipal solid waste management in Dessie town? If any, please mention those kebelles
together with its main reasons?
14. What do you think should be done to improve the situation of MSWM of the town in general?

If you have any additional comments, suggestions, or would like to elaborate on any of your
previous answers, please include it here, or attach a separate sheet.
 APPENDIX 3

Interview questions prepared for head of Sanitation, Beautification and Parks

Development Department of Dessie town

Dear respondent this interview is conducted for an academic purpose for the fulfillment of MA
degree in Geography and Environmental studies. Specifically the objective of the study is to assess
the current practice, infrastructural and institutional capacity of municipal solid waste management
service in Dessie town. Therefore, your response is very important for the success of the study
because all information that you provide determines the analysis and conclusion of the research.
Hence, you are kindly requested to give your response. Please be informed that your response is kept
in confidential. I would like to thank you for your cooperation.

1. What types of solid waste collection methods does your department adopt?
2. Mention the types and total number of equipments that your department used for collection,
transportation and disposal of municipal solid waste of the town?
3. Is there a mismatch between the amounts of municipal solid waste that regularly generated in the
town and, total quantity of solid waste that is collected and disposed by your department? If
there, please discuss the major reasons of a mismatch.
4. Explain the major reasons of why your department didn’t place public solid waste containers and
street bins at the major roads of Dessie town?
5. Does Dessie town sanitation, beautification and parks development department practice different
types of resource recovery, waste minimization or waste treatment activities? If any, please
describe those activities and, if not please mention the major reasons?
6. Did your department carry out the following surveys on disposal sites of the town in order to
evaluate its suitability? If your department under take the survey, specify the outcomes. But if
didn’t carry out, please specify the major reasons.
A. Geological survey or study B. Surface and ground study of the area
C. Environmental impact assessment D. Surrounding land use assessment
E. Distance of Disposal sit versus future expansion of the town
G. Its appropriateness based on the master plan of the town.
H. Cost benefits analysis of the area.
7. Explain the overall institutional structure, mandate and functions of sanitation, beautification
and parks development department and, the major positive and negative impact of these
arrangement on the existing performance municipal solid waste management of the town.
8. Briefly discuss Polices, Strategic plans, and its Implementation and monitoring mechanisms that
have been proposed by your department for efficient practice of municipal solid waste
management in Dessie town.
9. Describe the total budget and revenue of municipal solid waste management related with their
sources and the major challenges that faced your department about it?
10. Does your department collect charge from the residents of the town for its municipal solid waste
management service delivery?

11. Do you think that there is inadequacy of man power in your organization? If there is, what do
you think the reason behind this?

12. Do employees leave your department frequently? If yes, please specify their number, major
reasons and your department response for it.
13. Do you think that your organization has sufficient autonomy from other levels of government in
its every day decision making.
14. Does your department invited different stake holders of solid waste management to participate
both in planning and implementation process of municipal solid waste management? If yes,
please describe those actors and their significant activity.
15. Did your department give education to the community about solid waste management and
prepared cleanup campaigns? If you did, for how many times and describe your method of
delivery.
16. List challenges of your department.

If you have any additional comments, suggestions, or would like to elaborate on any of your
previous answers, please include it here, or attach a separate sheet.
 APPENDIX 4
Sample households’ solid waste generation rate by income level in Dessie town, 2011
Income group House no of Family Qt/HH/week Qt/HH/day( Qt/day/person
of sample HHs sample HHs size (kg) kg)
(kg)

1809 7 12.6 1.8 0.257

Higher income
group(>1501) 2251 4 5.7 0.814 0.204

2779 5 14.2 2.029 0.406

2090 6 9.3 1.329 0.222

531 5 10.2 1.457 0.291

1057 9 19.3 2.757 0.306

Sub- total 6 36 71.3 10.186 0.283

181 6 8.5 1.214 0.202

511 2 6.9 0.986 0.493

296/1 2 5.3 0.757 0.379

296/2 4 6.7 0.957 0.239

Middle
income(801- 296 4 12.1 1.729 0.432
1500)
296/3 5 7.8 1.114 0.223

241 6 8.9 1.271 0.212

211 8 11.6 1.657 0.207

163 7 9.3 1.329 0.190

1067 5 6 0.857 0.171

242 3 8.8 1.257 0.419

182 7 9.7 1.386 0.198

Sub- total 12 59 101.6 14.514 0.246

181/1 3 3.8 0.543 0.181

1062 4 5.7 0.814 0.203

167 2 3.5 0.5 0.25

012 3 6.8 0.971 0.324

1590 7 10.3 1.471 0.210

1520 4 7.5 1.071 0.268

1121 3 4.1 0.586 1.195

Lower income
group(<800) 751 8 9.4 1.343 0.168

193 6 7 1 0.167

2063 5 7.4 1.057 0.211

75 5 6.9 0.986 0.197

127 4 7.1 1.014 0.256

133 3 5.1 0.729 0.243

412 8 8.6 1.229 0.153

1560 6 8.7 1.243 0.207

07 2 4.5 0.643 0.322

35 6 7.3 1.043 0.174

526 9 9.3 1.329 0.148

Sub –total 18 88 123 17.572 0.2

Grand total 36 183 295.9 42.272 0.231

 APPENDIX 5

The Physical composition of solid wastes of Sample households’ in Dessie town,

2011

Category Type of solid waste Qt/HH/week Qt/HH/day Qt/day/person Percentage

(kg) (kg) share
(Kg)

Biodegradable Ash and dust 131.68 18.811 0.1027 44.5%

waste
Food waste 92.02 13.147 0.072 31.1%

Non Grass, leaf, straw, paper, 31.07 4.438 0.0242 10.5%

biodegradable cardboard, and wood scarp

Plastic, textiles and leathers 19.53 2.79 0.0152 6.6%

Glass, ceramics and metals 21.6 3.086 0.0169 7.3%

Total 295.9 42.272 0.231 100%

 APPENDIX 6
Dessie town SBPDD existing human resources and required no of workers related with
solid waste management task on the basis of work process manual of the SBPDD of
Dessie town,2011
Job title Required educational level Current Recruitment Required Existing Vacant
educational type no of no of positions
level of workers workers
workers

WP manager BA degree in Management Degree Permanent 1 1 -

WP assistant Diploma in secretarial Diploma Permanent 1 1 -

(secretary) science, management and
related fields

community BA degree in social Diploma, Permanent 5 4 1

need science(geography, degree,
assessment & sociology, economics and diploma,
planning related fields), diploma in degree
expert secretarial sciences, 10+2
or 12+1 in computer
science and related fields,
BSC degree in plant science

Training & BSC degree or diploma in - Permanent 3 - 3

document secretarial science with
preparation some year experiences,
expert BSC degree in health
officer or nursing and
related fields, BSC degree
in plant science and related
fields
Solid waste 12 grade complete and 12+(Diplom Permanent 2 2 -
reuse & above a), diploma
recycling
follow up &
supportive
expert

Distribution & Diploma in management diploma, Permanent 2 2 -

control expert and related fields diploma

Supply & Diploma in management - Permanent 1 - 1

repair follow and related fields
up expert

Town 1-4 grade complete and Four of Contract 25 5 20

sanitation above them are 5-8
workers grade
complete
while the
remaining
are illiterate
th
Driver( Solid Driver 5 driving Permanent 2 1 1
waste license
collection
vehicle)

Assistant( 1-4 grade complete and - Permanent 2 1 1

Solid waste above
collection
vehicle)

Street 1-4 grade complete and 11 of them Contract 46 17 29

sweepers (one above are illiterate
person for 500 and the
meter square) remaining
1,2,3 are1-4
grade
complete, 5-
8 grade
complete
and 9-
12grade
complete
respectively

Total 90 34 39

Source: 2011
 Statement of declaration

I, the under signed, declare that the thesis is my original work, has not been presented for a degree in
any other university and that all sources of material used for the thesis have been dully
acknowledged.

Name Solomon Cheru

Signature

Date

This thesis has been submitted for examination with my approval as a university advisor.

Name Yirgalem Mahiteme (Ph.D)

Signature

Date