Assessment of Current Municipal Solid Waste Management Practice: The case of Agaro Town, Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia

Abstract

This study is aimed at assessment of the current MSWM practice in Agaro town; Jimma zone, Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. Besides this, the study had also specific objectives such as investigation of households’ solid waste generation rate, type, physical composition and management practices, the current status of SBPDD on solid waste management practice and factors that affecting municipal solid waste management practice of the town. In order to accomplish the objective of the study, the researcher used descriptive research design and both primary and secondary sources were used. The primary data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews 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 Whereas secondary data were extracted from different published and unpublished materials.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. A total of 229 respondents were used in the study. The findings of the study revealed that the main types of MSW in Agaro are peels of vegetables and chat garbage, ash, plastic, paper and cardboard and textile. The physical composition of MSW of the town is composed from both biodegradable and non-degradable components. Based on the findings of this research, the town households’ solid waste generation rate is 1.74kg/day. This made the daily total solid waste generation of the town is (11151.66kg). Most of the respondents (75.1%) were used old sack for temporary solid waste storage at home. The result also showed that plastic container, bamboo basket and carton were used as a temporary solid waste material in the study area. Openly dumped solid waste in the area was damaging both the environment and public health. The major ways of solid waste reduction such as source reduction, reuses and recycling, were almost absent. Besides only few of the households were separate solid waste at the source. Provision of services by the municipality is hindered by different factors such as shortage of budget, lack of skilled personnel for MSWM service, lack of equipment for solid waste storage and handling, lack of stakeholder involvement such as CBOs, NGOs, and private sector, poor public participation and awareness, weak enforcement of rules and regulation on illegal solid waste dumper, shortage of daily waste collectors and lack of adequate and up to date waste statistics data and information regarding municipal solid waste management are some of the main factors that affect the MSWM practice of the town. Therefore, an integrated waste management system should be built in order to improve the holistic MSWM system and reduce the waste production by removing identified factors affecting MSWM.