Uyogro solid waste management project, Temeke, Dar es Salaam City

Date

2005

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Southern New Hampshire University

Abstract

This study was conducted at AZIZI ALLY, a suburb of Temeke Municipal, Dar es Salaam City. The purpose of this study was to work and study with small groups which were voluntarily formed for the aim of creating employment by taking care of their environment, i.e. waste management at their neighbourhood. The study will lead to the group capacity building which will create an impact on the community and thus turn the group to be legally Community Based Organisation working in broad perspective under national policies.

The study was guided by five objectives, namely; to examine the legal status of the group, its strength and weakness, assess their need; and a wide survey of the concept of solid waste management in Dar es Salaam City in comparison to what the group is practicing now. The study picked the Azizi Ally suburb, which reflects or resembles many other parts of Dar es Salaam City. About four wards were surveyed namely, Saba Saba, Relini, Bustani and Mtoni Sokoni. The sample comprised 131 households and were selected randomly from each ward. Also several officials from the wards, Municipal Council and Board of External Trade were interviewed. Data was collected through documentary analysis, interviews, questionnaires, a checklist and observation.The findings indicated that, the majority of urban residents have devised ways to deal with their own waste. People do not throw solid waste haphazardly into their plots, but put it somewhere outside the plot ready for collection to the dumping site. However only a limited number of the population have ever received training on solid waste management. The biggest problem with waste management in our case study in relation to other parts of Dar es Salaam is that although the waste generators remove waste from their immediate surroundings, a lot of it accumulates along streets, dumping sites or on common grounds with little coordinated remedial action due to the lack of enough equipment like tractors or lorries, to take the waste to the dumping site. Another finding is that the 1994 bylaws have many shortcomings which cannot be used for the 1998 privatization of waste management in Dar es Salaam City.

Gender roles in waste management: In many tribes or communities, women and children have the responsibility of keeping the family courtyard clean, taking out the garbage and dumping it somewhere. Women also appear to be very creative in recycling and re-using waste in their homes. On the other hand, men are involved in other productive sectors like fishing, carpentry or agriculture. Hence their roles in waste management is limited.

Some of the recommendations from the study include; to empower the community based organisations by providing education and equipments in order to work efficiently. I have also recommended that stakeholders of solid waste management should follow the so-called "The Solid Waste Stream" in order to work efficiently and improve our environment. At the households level, there are also some opportunities. It is recommended that care be taken when purchasing goods and appropriate amounts and sizes should be chosen.

I also recommended to UYOGRO that they look for more productive activities like vegetable cultivation rather than dealing only with waste collection, in order to be sustainable. By doing so, a business plan to acquire working equipment like tractor and its trailer for the purpose of empowering that CBO has been implemented. (Author abstract)

Description

Keywords

Citation

DOI