This is the 28th post in a blog series to be published in 2021 by the Secretariat on behalf of the AU High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and the Calestous Juma Executive Dialogues (CJED)

Africa’s rapid population growth, increasing economic activities, and ever-expanding urbanisation have resulted in unprecedented augmenting of waste materials. Subsequently, this has led to expanding risky waste material sites because the waste pollution from these sites has reached a state of emergency across the African continent. However, for the African Union’s Agenda 2063: “The Africa We Want”, Africa needs to pursue sustainable waste management approaches to ensure the appropriate preservation of the environment and curb possible further pollution. Thus, pursuing sustainable waste management approaches will ensure the realisation of AU’s Agenda 2063, Goal 7, which aspires for environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient economies within African communities.

It has been projected that by 2050, the volume of waste will triple from 174 million tonnes per year as of 2016 to approximately 516 million tonnes per year across the Africa continent.[1] However, Africa’s average waste collection rate is approximately 55% of all the existing waste materials. Notably, more than 90% of Africa’s waste is disposed of at uncontrolled dumpsites and landfills, often followed by open burning. Most importantly, 19 of the world’s 50 biggest dumpsites are found in Africa and are mostly located in Sub-Saharan Africa. By composition, an average of approximately 13% of municipal solid waste generated in Africa is plastic, and 57% constitute organic waste.[2] The bulk of organic waste is currently being dumped in landfills. However, organic waste could provide significant socio-economic opportunities for African countries.

The emergence of recycling across the African continent is characterised by poverty, unemployment, and socio-economic needs driven by public and private sector design. For example, approximately 70–80% of the municipal solid waste generated in Africa is recyclable.[3] However, only 4% of municipal solid waste is currently recycled. Furthermore, informal waste pickers actively recover valuable resources from the waste at minimal compensation to municipalities and private sector companies. This means that approximately half of the waste material generated in Africa remains uncollected within Africa’s cities and towns, where it remains dumped on sidewalks, open fields, stormwater drains, and rivers.

Notably, the primary causes of inadequate waste disposal and management in Africa include weak strategic, institutional, and organisational structures. This is perpetrated by limited skills that are essential to waste material management; inadequate budgets; feeble legislation and lack of enforcement necessary for waste management, low public awareness, increasing corruption and conflict leading to political instability; and the lack of political will among several governments to deal with waste material disposal and management.

Traditionally, African countries have managed waste disposal in landfills, indiscriminate dumping, open burning, and recycling. Unfortunately, the projected increased levels of waste in Africa, exposure of the public to waste sites, most particularly the poorly managed waste sites, has raised serious health concerns across the African continent. This includes the fact that the dumped waste material may find its way into water bodies through leaching over time, sometimes into groundwater bodies, and thus causing water pollution. Unfortunately, the end results of pollution have adverse effects on the environment, including animals and humans. Notably, plastics waste pollution, among other waste material disposals, have continuously and negatively impacted the reproduction efforts of animals and humans. For example, scientific studies have demonstrated that pollutants derived from chemicals and plastics are potentially introducing endocrine disruptors in humans and subsequently impairing brain development in developing foetuses and babies.[4],[5] These endocrine disruptors are responsible for low sperm counts and infertility in males and miscarriages or defective births in females.[6],[7]

Unfortunately, these endocrine disruptors do not only negatively affect human beings but other species as well. For example, since the 1980s, an exponential increase of childhood diseases such as autism, asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obesity, diabetes, and various congenital disabilities have been observed worldwide, including in Africa. Globally, approximately 80,000 new chemicals are being industrially manufactured and disseminated into the environment.[8] Notably, the link between reckless industrial practices such as the overproduction and disposal of plastics, and the consequent diseases, remain evident. Unfortunately, the lethargic regulatory systems suitable for environmental protection have perpetrated environmental pollution.

Regrettably, it has been estimated that deaths occurring in Africa because of outdoor air pollution have amplified by nearly 60% in the last two decades.[9] Furthermore, it has been estimated that six hundred thousand people die due to pollution across the African continent.[10] In addition, the World Bank estimated that the economic impact of air pollution in Africa in 2013 was approximately US$114 billion.[11]

Remarkably, several African countries are progressively adopting more sustainable modes of waste disposal and management technologies through leveraging emerging waste recycling technologies. These countries are also adopting digital technologies that can be utilised to decrease unsustainable waste disposal across the African continent. For example, Ethiopia has predominately utilised the Koshe dump site as the only landfill in Addis Ababa.[12] However, in 2017, the Ethiopian government transformed this dumpsite into a waste-to-energy plant. This effectively transformed, re-purposed, and revolutionised the dumpsite into incinerating approximately 1,400 tonnes of waste materials daily towards generating electricity. Therefore, this accounted for approximately 80% of Addis Ababa’s rubbish re-purposed towards energy supply, with the city supplementing approximately 30% of household electricity. Notably, the operational activities of this plant met European air emission standards.

Kenya is also leveraging emerging technologies towards better waste disposal and management approaches. For example, Kenya, through a company called Taka Taka, has actively managed waste collection, sorting, composting, plastic recycling, and purchasing waste from waste materials pickers.[13] Consequently, this waste management project has enabled affordable waste collection services to low-income areas by augmenting the recycling system to approximately 90% of all collected waste material. This project has also led into job creation for women and youth. Furthermore, the waste material project reduced Kenya’s gas emission effluents that resulted in a clean and healthy environment in Kenya. Furthermore, the state-of-the-art waste collection and processing uses modern screening technology that efficiently segregates recyclable material in a timely manner.

South African waste disposal and management companies have invested in new technologies that can efficiently manage waste collection. For example, these companies leverage user-friendly smartphone applications to facilitate prompt service, extra pickups, and bill payment through push notifications. Consequently, this technology has effectively enhanced cost-effective waste collection costs by simplifying the waste material collection processes. In addition, this technology has introduced automated waste management sensors that trigger instant alerts every time a container is full and needs service.

There are also alternative waste treatment options that can find applications in Africa. For example, the mechanical-biological treatment methods that combine mechanical and biological treatment methods, supported by pre-treatment sorting techniques and emission selection and quality control techniques, can also be adopted and adapted in African waste material systems.[14] Furthermore, African countries can also consider anaerobic digestion constituting the decomposition of organic waste in the absence of oxygen. A clean material recycling facility suitable for the processing of dry mixed recyclables that can be separated at the source can also be utilised. In addition, the landfill gas-to-energy where the landfilling is executed to the mass disposal of waste to land under controlled circumstances can also be utilised in Africa. In this case, the energy is recovered from the waste by collecting gases arising from the natural decomposition of the waste material.

African countries can also consider the dirty material recovery facilities where the dirty material recycling facility involves separating valuable materials from a mixed “dirty” waste stream. In addition, gasification can also be considered, and this can be achieved through a thermal treatment in which pre-treated waste is exposed to extremely high temperatures in an environment with minimal oxygen. African countries should also pursue pyrolysis that involves thermal degradation of waste substances at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Furthermore, plasma gasification can also be used whereby a plasma torch or arc is used to generate useful energy generation gases suitable for cooking. On the other hand, mechanical heat treatment can be used combined with thermal heat treatment processing. Thus, through adopting some of these technologies, the waste management suppliers and experts can foster collaborative approaches to finding solutions to the challenges that confront governments and municipalities.

Therefore, the African High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) encourages African to utilise digital and other environment-friendly technologies to enable effective waste material management systems across the African continent. Furthermore, APET is calling for Africa’s sustainable economic development that responsibly ensures a balance between socio-economic advancement coupled with environmental protection characterised by preserving the natural balance of the planet. Therefore, leveraging waste management technologies can effectively reduce pollution across the continent. Thus, the challenges threatening the quality of life in Africa can be achieved through rigorous waste material management, recycling, and waste-to-energy generating technologies.

APET is also supporting urgently shifting from uncontrolled dumping of waste materials to sanitary engineered landfilling of residual waste materials across the African countries. Therefore, the waste services and accompanying infrastructure should be cautiously selected to enable sustainable and progressive implementation. Therefore, African cities and towns should opt for cost-effective technologies that require low capital investments and minimal labour intensity and uphold culturally acceptable technologies. Furthermore, African countries should manufacture reusable materials and avoid single-use products, where possible, to enable recyclability. In addition, certain municipal waste streams such as organic waste, construction and demolition waste, and paper and packaging waste can provide immediate prospects for pursuing value recovery instead of landfill propositions.

APET is also calling for African countries to urgently increase facilities that can be used for safe treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, including healthcare risk waste. Therefore, African countries should spearhead investments towards creating an enabling environment that encourages private sector investments in the waste material disposal and management sector. Effectively, this includes decreasing the risks linked to investor confidence in Africa. Thus, African countries can explore and pursue favourable regulatory and policy frameworks to enhance and strengthen institutional investments and efficient governance. Moreover, African countries should increase mechanisms that can create and improve regional markets so to accomplish robust economic investments across the continent.

The African Union encourages African cities to recycle at least 50% of the waste material by 2023.[15] APET is fully supporting this goal and believes that even higher rates can be accomplished. However, APET calls for African countries to focus on diverting organic waste towards composting instead of landfill utilisation. Furthermore, African countries should pursue bioenergy recovery and higher value product recovery efforts. This should be supported by the renewal, restoration, reclamation, and recycling of mainline recyclables such as plastics, papers, metals, glasses, tyres, and e-waste materials. Thus, APET is encouraging African countries towards developing and implementing measurable policy and regulatory frameworks around waste material management systems. Such management frameworks should encourage the creation of opportunities for small-scale businesses that are community-based approaches and larger-scale systems entailing advanced waste treatment technologies. Finally, African countries are encouraged to establish strategic environments to enable waste materials governance systems managed by supporting data, infrastructure, institutional capacity, financial provisions and monitoring frameworks, and control mechanisms. In this way, Africans can effectively clean the pollution caused by inadequate waste management in Africa.

Featured Bloggers – APET Secretariat

Justina Dugbazah

Barbara Glover

Bhekani Mbuli

Chifundo Kungade

 

 

[1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30101-7/fulltext.

[2] https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/302341468126264791/pdf/68135-REVISED-What-a-Waste-2012-Final-updated.pdf.

[3] https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/brief/solid-waste-management.

[4] Gandolfi, S. Inquinamento da Plastica: Tra Vent’Anni, Gran Parte Delle Coppie Non Riuscira Ad Avere Figli. 2021. Available online: https://www.corriere.it/pianeta2020/21_aprile_03/inquinamento-plastiche-vent-anni-gran-parte-coppie-non-riusciraad-avere-figli-6c4f7cf8-93bc-11eb-a162-c78b02fef827.shtml (accessed on 10 April 2021).

[5] Trasande, L. Sicker, Fatter, Poorer: The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals on Our Health and Future, and What We Can Do about It; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: New York, NY, USA, 2019.

[6] Grandjean, P. Only One Chance: How Environmental Pollution Impairs Brain Development–And How to Protect the Brains of the Next Generation; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2013.

[7] Swan, S.; Colino, S. Count down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race; Scribner: New York, NY, USA, 2021.

[8] Landrigan, P.J.; Landrigan, M.M. Children and Environmental Toxins: What Everyone Needs to Know®; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2018.

[9] https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=977.

[10] https://borgenproject.org/pollution-in-africa/.

[11] https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=977.

[12] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ethiopias-waste-energy-plant-first-africa.

[13] https://empowering-people-network.siemens-stiftung.org/solutions/takataka-solutions-an-integrated-waste-management-and-recycling-approach/.

[14] https://mg.co.za/article/2018-04-20-00-the-future-of-waste-management-in-africa/.

[15] https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25515/Africa_WMO_Summary.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.