Impact of Solid Waste Management Practices on Environmental Protection Case of Kicukiro District
Abstract
This Solid waste management practices are essential component of environmental infrastructure inhuman settlements; its poor management can lead to health problem and environmental destruction in general, this study was conducted in Kicukiro district. The data were collected on the sample of 97 households and some authorities through questionnaires, and interview and were analyzed using SPSS Version 20 (statistical tools) and this helped in generating tables and performing descriptive statistics like percentages, frequency, and mean.
The results obtained revealed that that in terms of waste segregation is explained excluding solid wastes from liquid wastes considering the mean of 2.73 which was interpreted as high mean. Those results influenced the grand mean to become 2.04 which is interpreted as low mean. This means that waste segregation practices is not efficiently done in households located in Kicukiro. It was revealed that transportation of wastes is characterized by the short time of loading wastes considering the mean of 2.91 which is interpreted as high mean. The findings revealed that the environmental protection in Kicukiro District is characterized by the following: little harmful materials (plastic packages) in the soils considering the mean of 3.18. This showed that there is link between solid waste management practices and environmental protection in Kicukiro District. For proper practices of waste management which is positive but only for waste transportation to have a significant relationship with environmental protection considering the correlation coefficient of 0.259 and the p-value or Sig.(2-tailed) of 0.010 which is below the p-alpha of 0.05. It is recommended that Kicukiro District has to launch a sustained, education and communication campaign informing residents on the importance of managing waste properly and its importance to their health, the environment and cleanliness of the city or use another waste reduction strategy in order to encourage recyclable production of goods to allow access to recyclable products.
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Introduction
Solid waste management practices are essential component of environmental infrastructure inhuman settlements. These practices encompass all activities undertaken from the point of waste generation up to the final disposal. Inmost of African urban areas, solid waste management is ultimately a responsibility of Municipal Councils while most cases of rural areas the wastes are handled and disposed at the household level (Frank, 2006). and Rwanda is not an exceptional (ADB, 2012). Accordingly, Kigali town’swaste contains still 70 percent of organic, biodegradable waste and in rural areas the portion of waste reach more than 95 percent. Waste sorting, composting and recycling activities have been at the very beginning and until 2015 and yet Rwanda has started to invest in environmentally safe landfills. The operating dumpsite receives about 400 tons per day of solid, not sorted waste or 140,000 tons per year (MININFRA, 2013).
Management of solid waste is a global problem and is faced by all developing countries. The rapid pace of increase in population, economic growth, urbanization and industrialization is coupled with accelerated solid waste generation. The management of solid waste stands as the most visible environment problem facing the districts in Rwanda and is attaining a worrisome dimension with urbanization increment rate. Despite the rapid growth of its population, districts have never had any clear Master plan to re-organize the planning and settlement since colonial era. This has put pressure on the infrastructure which has resulted in many complex problems regarding settlement notably waste management, where the solid waste problem is visible inmost parts of the districts’ urban centers; on the roads, within the neighborhoods and around residential buildings and indifferent places of the urban areas. Failure to address waste management related issues is expected to lead to numerous social and environmental contaminations (Nshimiyimana, 2015). The Government of Rwanda has made waste management one of the priority areas in achieving vision 2020. During the Economic Development for Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) I period (2008-2012), the sector aimed at improving the environmental health and hygiene conditions of the population by promoting safer methods of waste disposal from community and health facilities. EDPRS II (2013-2018) stipulates that because of the rapid urbanization which will occur in Rwanda in the next five years, with 35% of the population envisaged to live in urban areas by 2020, it is likely to have huge economic and environmental impacts, through increased pressure on urban infrastructure, such as transport and solid and liquid waste (SLW) management systems. Regarding that this study aims at inspect the impact of current waste management practices on environmental protection in Rwanda by taking the case of Kicukiro District.
Conclusion
The focus of the study was to investigate the impacts of solid waste management practices on environmental protection. It was found that with the increasing in the global population and the rising demand for food and other essentials, there has been arise of the amount of waste being generated daily by each household. To all practices of waste management practices the relationship is positive but only for waste transportation to have a significant relationship with environmental protection considering the correlation coefficient of 0.259 and the p-value or Sig.(2-tailed) of 0.010 which is below the p-alpha of 0.05.. The sustainability of our environment, an adequate sort from household level is a requirement for a good management of solid waste. This is only successful after education of the people and their involvement in waste handling and separate waste like degradable and non-degradable waste.
After the sort, some fractions must be transformed in marketable things such as: compost and biological digestion can also yield biogas that can be used as the source of energy. Other material like metal and plastic bags can be recycling of other materials. Landfill site must be the last option for treating ultimate solid waste and this must be done under environmental condition. 4.3 Recommendations Governments have a range of policy options to encourage waste management practices that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Practical approaches that could be applied inmost cities include: Public education to inform people about their options to reduce waste generation and increase recycling and composting. Pricing mechanisms, such as product charges can stimulate consumer behavior to reduce waste generation and increase recycling. A product charge is a cost assessment added to the price of a product and is tied to the cost of the desired waste management system. Consumers would pay for the waste management service when they buy the product. The fees collected would be directed to municipalities relative to the waste generated. Another pricing mechanism well suited to urban areas is user charges tied to quantity of waste disposed. Consumers who separate recyclables pay a lower fee for waste disposal. This pricing policy can work well in locations where waste collection is from individual households so that waste quantities for disposal can be readily monitored. However, it may not be practical in many areas in developing countries, particularly in those where there are communal collection points associated with multi-unit households (such as apartment user charges tied to quantity or volume). Preferential procurement policies and pricing to stimulate demand for products made with recycled post-consumer waste. Use of compost in public parks and other property owned by cities