Assessment of municipal solid waste management system in Mbeya City Tanzania

Abstract

Waste is anything which the holder discards or intents to or required to discard. So solid waste is any unwanted or discarded material that is not liquid or gas. The objectives of this study were to evaluate type and nature of wastes; estimate volumes of wastes generated; assessing handling, storage, transportation and disposal methods of waste and potential environmental impact. This study represents a few basic steps of municipal solid waste management practiced in the Mbeya City Council Tanzania. A six-month field study was conducted to identify the solid wastes management steps such as storage at source, separation, on-site storage, collection, transportation, treatment, reuse, recycling, and ultimate disposal. This study addresses the role of the city authority to meet the demand of the city dwellers in solving this emerging socio environmental issue and the initiatives taken by some nongovernmental organizations and community based organizations. The problems and constraints of the solid wastes management system are also identified to find a sustainable management concept for the urban areas of Tanzania. Rapid urbanization and population increase of Mbeya City creates a huge generation of MSW where by Mbeya City Council is unable to manage properly all the waste generated. Community of Mbeya City have to be fully involved to solve the problem of wastes generated.

Keywords: Municipal solid waste, management systems, municipal area, tanzania.