TITLE:
Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management for Better-Quality Public Health and Environmental Sustainability in the Freetown Metropolitan City in Sierra Leone
AUTHORS:
Tamba Komba
KEYWORDS:
Municipality, Solid Waste Management, Sustainable, Public Health, Environmental Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.9 No.4,
April
16,
2021
ABSTRACT: Managing
waste has been an aged-old challenge, especially in developing cities, like the
Freetown Metropolitan City. Solid Waste and/or waste in general is an artefact
of human activities that can spring from individuals, families, community,
commercial/industrial operations etc. This study is a qualitative
investigation, and it is intended to gather an inclusive knowledge of solid
wastes management for better public health in Freetown, the Capital City of
Sierra Leone. Statistical analysis was employed to observe numerical
representations on a wide range of selected data. In an attempt to achieve the
aim of this research project, reviews of available online resources were
exploited, and juxtaposed with everyday knowledge in the existing state of the
Freetown’s municipality solid waste management. The study revealed that
residents in Freetown produce an average 0.45 kg of solid waste per individual
per day. It was further established that biodegradable/organic matters comprise
approximately 75% to 85% of total waste stream along with assorted retired
furniture, scarp metals and plastic bags as most important recyclable elements.
The hitches connected with municipal solid waste management in Freetown have
become palpable, spanning from the past decade to date. Among many other
factors, an upsurge influx urbanisation after the 11 years brutal civil war
that ended in 2001, combine up with insufficient approved dumping sites for
waste disposal and institutional incapability stand out. In this project, the
contemporary approach of solid waste disposal in Freetown was carefully
assessed with efforts to bring out the most feasible alternatives of solid
waste disposal and acclaim ways of refining its activities. It was concluded
from the study that, solid wastes in the Freetown Municipality must be tackled
in a synergetic approach. That is, government corroborating with private solid
waste managing actors so as to enhance an excellent better-public health,
sustainable environmental, urban economic development and a resourceful energy
paradigm.