Challenges of Solid Waste Management practice and Factors Influencing its Effectiveness: A case study in Jimma city municipality.

Abstract

Background: Solid waste refers to the range of garbage materials arising from animal and human activities that are discarded as unwanted and useless. Ethiopia is one of the low-income countries facing the consequence of improper solid waste management. Solid waste in Jimma city is accumulated and is poorly managed. Solid waste has become an important issue in Jimma city. Currently in Jimma, solid waste is increasing beyond the management capacity of the municipal governors. Objectives: The general research objective of this study is to assess the current solid waste management practice and identify the potential factors influencing its effectiveness in Jimma city municipality. Methodology: The study was conducted starting from January to December, 2021. A crosssectional survey research design was adopted for the purpose of this study. The target population of this study were workers in solid waste management system at jimma central and branch municipalities. In this study, the researcher used questionnaires, interviews, focused group discussion and observation methods of data collection to collect primary (original) data. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentages) and inferential statistics (correlation and regression analysis) were used to find out the influencing factors that affect the effectiveness of solid waste management practice in Jimma city municipality. Analysis was conducted by using SPSS version 23.00 software. Results: The result shows that financial condition, technical condition, social condition, and institutional conditions and political conditions have a positive relationship with solid waste management. From multiple regression analysis, it was identified that all the considered independent variables; financial, technical, social, institutional and political conditions have a positive as well as significant effect on the effectiveness of solid waste management practice. Conclusion: In this research it was concluded that financial, technical, social, political and institutional conditions or all the influencing factors had a significant effect on effective solid waste management practice in Jimma city municipality. The local government should ensure provision of adequate and modern solid waste management system that will facilitate the process of collection, transportation and disposal of waste.