Assessment of the waste management system on Zanzibar -a case study on Jumbi landfill, Mwanakwerekwe dumpsite and Tunguu dumping area

Abstract: Zanzibar, as a part of a developing country in East Africa, struggles with a bad municipal solid waste management system. This master thesis is an attempt to analyse the current waste situation on Zanzibar and the environmental and social effects of four dumpsites in order to give recommendations on how to improve the waste management system. The thesis was made as a Minor Field Study funded by SIDA and conducted as a literature study complemented by a field study on Zanzibar. Methods used in the field study included qualitative interviews, ocular waste composition analysis, water quality analysis, a plastic bottle survey and a waste collection point survey. In order to investigate the environmental effects from dumpsites on Zanzibar a method for landfill investigation with limited resources was developed. In 2005 a study of the domestic waste composition in Stone Town was made. The study showed that the major domestic waste fraction in Stone Town was organic waste (85.6wt%) and the second largest fraction was plastic (4.4wt%). In the result analysis these figures were compared to the waste composition analysis conducted on Tunguu dumping area where the largest waste fraction was organic waste, representing 82wt%. Plastic represented only 1.6wt% in this survey. The result analysis does however conclude that there are little reasons to believe that an absolute decrease of the plastic waste fraction has happened. Furthermore the organic waste fraction is believed to have decreased even more than shown in the waste composition analysis. Based on the landfill investigation Jumbi landfill, Mwanakwerekwe dumpsite and Tunguu dumping area have environmental and social impacts mainly through their bad siting, smell, vermin and closeness to surface- and ground water. The waste composition analysis on the sites together with the water quality analysis shows limited environmental impact from the sites. This is believed to be due to high organic content in the waste and low content of hazardous materials. Major issues regarding the waste management system on Zanzibar are poor governance, low public awareness, aid dependency and no formal landfill together with tourism and population increase and more hazardous waste. However local recycling initiatives already exist together with plans for a future controlled landfill. Zanzibar also has good potential for municipal solid waste composting due to high organic content in the municipal solid waste and a favourable climate.