J Egypt Public Health Assoc

Vol. 84 No. 1 & 2, 2009

Evaluation of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Egyptian Rural Areas

Mamdouh A. El-Messery*, Gaber AZ. Ismail*, Anwaar K. Arafa** * Environmental Engineering, Environmental Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University. ** Environmental Chemistry and Biology, Environmental Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University. ABSTRACT A two years study was conducted to evaluate the solid waste management system in 143 villages representing the Egyptian rural areas. The study covers the legal responsibilities, service availability, environmental impacts, service providers, financial resources, private sector participation and the quality of collection services. According to UN reports more than 55% of Egyptian population lives in rural areas. A drastic change in the consumption pattern altered the quantity and quality of the generated solid wastes from these areas. Poor solid waste management systems are stigmata in most of the Egyptian rural areas. This causes several environmental and health problems. It has been found that solid waste collection services cover only 27% of the surveyed villages, while, the statistics show that 75% of the surveyed villages are formally covered. The service providers are local villager units, private contractors and civil community associations with a percentage share 71%, 24% and 5% respectively. The operated services among these sectors were 25%, 71% and 100% respectively. The share of private sector in solid waste management in rural areas is still very limited as a result of the poverty of these communities and the lack of recyclable materials in their solid waste.
Corresponding Author: Dr. Mamdouh A. El-Messery. Environmental Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, University of Alexandria, Egypt E-mail: entreco2020@yahoo.com

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It has been found that direct throwing of solid waste on the banks of drains and canals as well as open dumping and uncontrolled burning of solid waste are the common practice in most of the Egyptian rural areas. The available land for landfill is not enough, pitiable designed, defectively constructed and unreliably operated. Although solid waste generated in rural areas has high organic contents, no composting plant was installed. Shortage in financial resources allocated for valorization of solid waste management in the Egyptian rural areas and lower collection fees are the main points of weakness which resulted in poor solid waste management systems. On the other hand, the farmers participation in solid waste management through the composting of organic matter and using of food waste as an animal feed are considered strength points. However, throwing of solid waste on the banks of water streams, open dumping and uncontrolled burning of solid waste are environmental damaging behaviors that need to be changed. Integrated solid waste management in the Egyptian rural areas is not yet among the priorities of the Egyptian government. Key words: Solid waste management, rural areas, municipal solid waste, landfilling.

INTRODUCTION The concern over environmental issues emerged in the 1970s. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, followed by the creation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in the same year spearheaded of initiatives which, in Egypt, were taken up by civil society, often before the state.(1) One of the most important principals of environmental sanitation is integrated solid waste management. As shown in figure (1), Pitiable solid waste management system result in different environmental impacts which consequently add a higher potential of direct and indirect public health risks.

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Figure (1): Environmental Impacts Associated with Poor Solid Waste Management Systems.

The United Nations (UN) reports on developing countries in 1997, concluded that, the major health problems include endemic diseases, such as gastro-intestinal diseases, diarrheal diseases, anemia, trachoma chronic infections and parasitic diseases were a result of poverty, an unsanitary environment, the inappropriate distribution of health resources among various regions of several socio-economic groups, and limited government resources. While potable water is available for almost all the urban population, unsanitary disposal of liquid and solid wastes and inadequate personal hygiene are still major sources for dissemination and prevalence of infectious diseases.(2) Similar results were reported in 2001 by UN Economic Commission for Africa, State of the Environment in Africa.(3) Another study concluded that solid waste in rural and

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urban areas in Egypt supports higher breading rates of flies. Different species of that flies are incriminated as mechanical vectors of many human diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, conjunctivitis and intestinal worms.(4) Integrated solid waste management system includes

collection, transport, sorting, treatment, as well as final disposal with minimal harmful environmental and public health impacts. The treatment includes reuse, recycling, composting and incineration for energy generation. All of this should be within the available regulation and resources. To achieve an integrated solid waste management and organized frame duties, financial resources should be allocated for the in charge authorities. Figure (2) shows the framework of solid waste management applied in Egypt including the Egyptian rural areas. Ministry of local development Central Purgation Administration Governorates

t
Governorate Purgation Administration

City councils City Purgation Administration Local Villager units Purgation Administration

Figure (2): Framework of Solid Waste Management Applied in Egypt.

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The higher organizational umbrella is the Ministry of Local Development, where the Minister leads the governors of 26 governorates in addition to the Luxor city governor. The governors lead 481 city councils (cities, towns and districts) and consequently they lead 1221 local villager units which manage 4679 villages and 26757 very small villages called (Ezaab or Neguaa). The Ministry of Local Development is accountable to manage and finance the mentioned councils and local villager units to carry out their duties.(5) Figure (3) shows the hierarchy of solid waste management options which were established in the last three decades of the last century and adopted in solid waste management strategies of the economically developed countries. The most preferable solid waste management option waste reduction took place at the top of the hierarchy and the least preferable option waste landfilling placed at the bottom.(6) At the beginning of the 21st century, the solid waste management strategies of the economically developed countries inverted the hierarchy of solid waste management options aiming to maximize solid waste reduction and minimize landfilling as shown in figure (4).(7) Meanwhile the first priority in the Egyptian solid waste management strategy and plans has been given to the establishment of integrated solid waste management systems in Cairo and Alexandria. The second priority has been given to the large cities (the capitals of governorates) and the third priority has been given to medical and hazardous wastes while solid waste management in rural areas was not mentioned.(8)

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Reduction

Reuse Recycling Composting Incineration with energy recovery Landfilling Figure (3) Hierarchy of Solid Waste Management Options (1980 to 2000).

Reduction

Reuse

Recovery Recycling Composting Energy

Disposal

Figure (4): Hierarchy of Solid Waste Management Options (Down of 21st Century).(7)

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Waste Strategy for England in 2007 which was developed by the Department for Food Environment and Rural Affairs (DFERA) kept the hierarchy of solid waste management options inverted and adopted waste prevention rather than waste reduction as shown in figure (5).(9) Waste Prevention Reuse Recycling and composting Energy recovery Disposal

Figure (5): Hierarchy of Solid Waste Management Options (Waste Strategy, England 2007).(9)

There were no problems concerning solid waste management in the Egyptian rural areas up till 1980. Before that, the smaller population size, population profile and life style of the Egyptian rural communities led to negligible solid waste management problems. From 1980 the population size of most of the Egyptian villages significantly increased in parallel to inadequate development plans. Consequently, the job opportunities in agriculture sector became very limited. This situation led to the migration of some of the manpower from rural areas to the large cities such as Cairo and Alexandria to find jobs available in the

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commercial and industrial sectors. Others stayed resident in their villages and found jobs in the adjacent towns or cities and some went abroad to work temporary. This situation led to significant changes in the rural community life style and consumption patterns. These changes resulted in significant changes in the quantity, quality and the constituents of the generated solid wastes.(10) The laws and regulations governing solid waste management in Egypt include Law Number 38 of 1967 on General Public Cleaning(11) and its executive regulations (issued by Minister of Housing Decree Number 134 of 1968).(12) Also it includes the Environment Law
[13]

(Law Number 4 of 1994) and its executive

regulations (issued by Prime Minister Decree Number 338 of 1995).(14) It contains some provisions governing general solid waste management. Several other laws address solid waste in specific situations, but do not have general provisions governing solid waste management. For instance, Law Number 48 of 1982 on the Protection of the Nile and Its Canals prohibits dumping solid waste in the Nile River and its canals,(15) and Law Number 140 of 1956 on the Occupation of Public Ways(16) and Law Number 84 of 1968 concerning Public Ways prohibit dumping solid waste on roads or in public squares.(17) The specific objectives of this work are: 1- To evaluate municipal solid waste management practices in the Egyptian rural areas. 2- To identify the current environmental problems resulting from municipal solid waste management practices in the selected areas.

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MATERIAL AND METHODS The studied villages were randomly selected to cover delta region, upper Egypt, west and east of the Delta region as well as the new villages around Cairo - Alexandria desert road. The total number of the surveyed villages were 143 villages and distributed as the following: 48 villages in delta region, 34 villages in upper Egypt, 15 villages in the west of delta region, 17 villages in east of delta region and 29 new villages around the desert road Cairo - Alexandria. A data collection questionnaire was designed and applied through interviews which were carried out with the community leaders and governmental employees. It covers data about environmental conditions and available services in these villages. Specific questions about the existing problems were applied to measure the public point of views, their opinions and their willingness to participate in the rural environmental management. The collected data was statistically analyzed on Microsoft Excel software.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Legal Responsibilities:
As mentioned in the introduction, purgation departments in local villager units are responsible for municipal solid waste management in the Egyptian rural areas. While waste collection vehicles and equipments are provided by local villager units, the purgation departments are in charge for waste collection, transport and final disposal. Otherwise, purgation department are responsible for tendering contracts and supervising Also they contractors for solid waste collection and disposal.(5)

follow up their performance and collect the fees of the service

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from residence. The results of surveyed villages show that purgation departments are activated and carry out their duties. However, the shortage in equipments and solid waste collection vehicles in addition to the shortage in financial resources for maintenance and employing enough labors to run the service as well as the shortage in private sector participation lead to inefficient solid waste collection, transport and disposal services.

Availability of service:
Availability of the service means that the local villager units of these villages allocate a purgation department (human resources), have solid waste collection vehicles or signed a solid waste collection contract with a private contractor or with one of the community development associations. Figure (6) shows the availability of municipal solid waste collection service in the surveyed villages. The results of the collected data show that; municipal solid waste collection service is available in 75% of the surveyed villages. This percent could be considered as very good and is compatible with formal reports on solid waste collection services in some Egyptian urban areas.(10) But, actually these services are just being available as a paper work only. As mentioned availability of the service does not mean that it is in operation. Figure (7) shows the actual existing situation as follows; only 27% of the surveyed villages have solid waste collection system in operation and 48% of the villages have purgation department and vehicles or signed solid waste collection contract but they never practice solid waste collection and 25% have no solid waste collection service. This means that the actual solid waste collection service is available and in operation in only 27% of the surveyed villages and 73% either have not operated service or have no service. This is nearly the

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inverse of the formal statistics as shown in figure (6). The reasons of this situation will be discussed later.
Not Available 25%

25%

Not operated service 27%

Not served 25%

25%

Available 75% Available

Not operated service 48%

Figure (6): Service Availability.

Figure (7): Actual Waste Collection Service.

Environmental Impacts:
Around 73% of municipal solid waste generated from the surveyed villages is mainly thrown on the canal and drain banks (figure 8), open dumped around the villages (figure 9), or burned in open areas (figure 10). The minor percent (27%) of municipal solid waste generated from the surveyed villages are collected and transferred to landfills (figure 11). All of the visited landfills during the study were neither well designed and constructed nor well operated. Similar results were reported in the 2007 annual report of the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs.(18) This causes several environmental problems such as surface and ground water pollution due to direct throwing of solid waste in and around water streams and due to leachate from landfills in addition to air pollution from burning of solid waste in open spaces and in landfills sites.(19) It also supports higher breading

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rates of flies which are incriminated as mechanical vectors of many diseases.(4)

Figure (8): Solid Waste on Water Stream Banks.

Figure (9): Open Dumping.

Figure (10): Solid Waste Burning.

Figure (11): Solid Waste Landfilling.

As shown in figure (12), municipal solid waste collection in the Egyptian rural areas recorded very poor performance levels, as the waste is collected in plastic weaved sacs which allow seepage of the generated leachate. Also, solid waste is collected using open tractors which lead to spreading of bad odor leachate in the village streets. This situation is considered as a source of public nuisance and environmental contaminations. In addition, landfills are neither well designed nor well constructed (in terms

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of their capacity and lining) which may pollute the ground and surface water. Moreover, the landfills are not well operated (the operators do not cover the waste with soil everyday which leads to spreading of bad odor, fires and breading of insects).

Figure (12): Solid Waste Collection, Transfer and Landfilling.

On the other hand, the most frequent reported behaviors of the residents of the villages, which have no municipal solid waste collection service to deal with the household waste were as follows: Around 50% of them use the combustible constituents of solid waste as a fuel for cooking food in the rural ovens. Most of them do not know that the emissions from burning of plastics contained in solid waste cause harmful public health impacts. About 80 % of the farmers use the organic constitutes of their solid waste as animal feed or mix it with animal manure to be composted and be used as a soil conditioner. Around 50% of the villagers throw their solid wastes on the banks of canals and drains and in open lands. In this case, leachate finds its way to land surface and ground water and cause land and water

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contamination. Accumulation of solid waste on the banks of canals and drains eases its way to the stream waters causing higher levels of water pollution. It also affects the atheistic value of these streams. A minor percent of them (around 30%) burn the municipal solid waste in open space. Very limited informal recycling activities take place in rural areas as a result of lower recyclable constituents in municipal solid waste in rural areas. The presence of the above mentioned practices among the Egyptian villagers were obtained through asking the key persons and the community leaders in the surveyed villages. It reflects the dramatic changes in the Egyptian villagers behaviors over the last four decades.

Service Providers:
The number of the formally served villages (its local villager units have purgation department and collection vehicles or sign a solid waste collection contract with a contractor or with civil community association) within the sample are 107. However, there are 12 large villages served by both their local villager units and private contractor. This increases the number of the services provided to the surveyed villages from 107 to 119 services. The services are classified based on the service providers as shown in figure (13). Most of solid waste collection services (71%) are provided by the local villager units while, 24% are provided by private contractors and the remaining 5% percent are provided by civil community associations. This reflects the domination of the local villager units on solid waste collection services and the lower levels of participation of private sector and civil community associations.

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Civil community association 5%

Private Contractor 24%

Local villager unit 71%

Figure (13) Providers of Solid Waste Collection Service. Figure (14) shows the percentage of the operated and non operated solid waste collection services among different service providers in the studied villages. The major proportion (41%) of solid waste collection services is non-operated and is provided by local villager units. In addition, 23% of solid waste collection service over the studied villages is not available. This means that, the local villager units are responsible for (64%) non operated and not available solid waste collection service while private contractors are responsible for (5%) only. On the other hand, the villages which are served by civil community association have a very well operated solid waste collection service (100%) according to collected data.

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50

41 40 30 20 14 10 0
Local villager unit unit Local villager Private contractor

Operated service Non operated service

13 5 4 0 Private contractor
Civil community assosiation Civil community association

Figure (14): Operated and Non Operated Services Among Service Providers*.

Financial Resources:
The main challenge facing the local villager unit that manages solid waste services is the huge shortage in the number of solid waste collection vehicles, insufficient maintenance for the available vehicles and lack of professional human resources due to the lower salaries of such labors. The private sector faces the lower fees collected for the service from residences. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA] the average running cost of municipal solid waste management is around 40 SR/capita/year (around LE 60/capita/year) where the government of KSA afford the total running cost of municipal solid waste management.(19) The running cost of municipal solid waste management in Alexandria is around LE 20/capita/year. The residents afford around 50% and the commercial and industrial sectors afford the remaining 50% of the cost. These fees cannot be compared with those in the Egyptian rural areas. This situation reflects the difference in the service quality between the mentioned

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municipalities. Monthly fees collected from the rural residences among the studied villages ranged from 3 to 5 LE/month. It is similar to the fees of the services in Cairo and Alexandria; however, the fees of solid waste collection from the commercial and industrial sectors in urban areas are considered a very good financial support which is not available in rural areas. This reflects the difference between the provided services in urban and rural areas in terms of collection vehicles, equipment and collection frequency. Only two local villager units among the studied villages collect solid waste for free.

Successful private sector participation:

Private sector participation in municipal solid waste management in the Egyptian urban areas started and were established in the past century. The most famous case was in Cairo. The private collectors are part of a single community, known traditionally as the Zabbaleen. The private collectors worked closely with another community, known as the Wahis, which originally had purchased the long-term rights to the refuse collection from various buildings. Over the past century, the Zabbaleen provided collection free-of-charge to residents of upper income neighborhoods, in return for the opportunity to recover and recycle the materials present in the wastes. For their livelihood, the Zabbaleen sold recovered paper, plastic, glass, and metal to manufacturing plants for recycling, and they raised pigs on the recovered organic wastes. Fees were paid to the Wahis for access to the wastes from these upper income neighborhoods(20). Unfortunately, there was no incentive for the private collectors to provide collection from lower income neighborhoods, because the waste from this area did not have much recyclable

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material content. The same contribution is applied for rural area. In addition to the rural Egyptian traditions (which consider it shame to work in solid waste collection) the private sector participation in household solid waste management in rural areas was very limited till the 90's of the last century.(21)

Quality of collection services:

Services provided by the local villager units are more efficient than those provided by the private sector. The frequency of collection is 6 days a week made by the local villager units and community associations while it is 3 days a week in the cases of collection by the private sector when collection costs are the same. This reflects the urgent need for cost benefit analysis for such services to apply successful private sector participation in this sector of services. Although, the frequency of the provided services by the private sector is not enough for a good solid waste management, the public participation in these projects and their willingness to pay the required tariff was very high and ranged from 85% to 95% of the residents of the surveyed villages.

CONCLUSIONS It could be concluded that the major problems associated with solid waste management in the Egyptian rural areas are: 1- Lack of municipal solid waste collection services due to lack of collection vehicles as a result of lack of financial resources. 2- The used vehicles for solid waste collection in rural areas are open and could be a source of environmental contamination. 3- Ladfills have not enough volume, not well designed, not well constructed, not well operated.

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4- Although the organic constituents of solid waste collected from rural areas are high, only one composite plant was found among the studied villages as the market need for its product is very limited due to undesirable contents in the product such as crushed glasses. 5- There are significant negative changes in the rural population culture, life style and their behaviors. 6- Although solid waste management is the responsibility of the local villager units and municipalities by law, they play very weak role in this field. 7- Weakness of regulation, as there is no punishment or penalties on the local villager unit administrators if they did not carry out their duties in solid waste management. 8- Some of local villager unit administrators are not convinced that there should be solid waste collection services in rural areas. 9- Further research on municipal solid waste in rural areas need to be carried out as a support for decision making regarding solid waste management in the Egyptian rural areas.

REFERENCES
1. 2. 3. 4. United Nations Development Program Development Report; 2008. p. 221-245. (UNDP), Egypt Human

United Nations Development program (UNDP), Human development reports on developing countries, Environment, 1997. United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa, Report on State of the Environment in Africa; 2001. p. 63-69. Fallatah S, Salah N, Radi M. Impact of solid waste of urban and rural Egyptian districts on fly density and associated bacteria. Global Journal of Molecular Science. 2007; 2(1): 21-8. Personal Contact with the Ministry of Local Development; 2008.

5.

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6.

Department of Environment (DoE), Report on making waste work, a strategy for sustainable waste management in England and Wales, Her Majestys Stationery Office (HMSO); 1995. p. 5-10.

7.

Department of Environment Transport and Regions (DETR), Waste Strategy 2000 for England and Wales, part 1, Her Majestys Stationery Office (HMSO); 2000. p. 40-51. Annual Report, Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, 20002001. p. 6-13. Department for Food Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Waste Strategy for England 2007, Her Majestys Stationery Office (HMSO); 1995. p. 9-17.

8. 9.

10. Annual Report, Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, Solid waste management, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency; 2005. p. 116-126. 11. Law Number 38 of 1967 on General Public Cleaning. 12. Minister of Housing Decree Number 134 of 1968. 13. Environment Law, Law Number 4 of 1994. 14. Prime Minister Decree Number 338 of 1995. 15. Law Number 48 of 1982 on the Protection of the Nile and Canals. 16. Law Number 140 of 1956 on the Occupation of Public Ways. 17. Law Number 84 of 1968 on Dumping of Solid Waste on Roads and Public Squares. 18. Annual Report, Chapter 12, Solid Waste, Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency; 2007. p. 100-114. 19. Annual Report, Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency; 2006. p. 21-145. 20. Personal Contact Governorate. with the KSA Municipalities and Alexandria

21. Cointreau-Levine S, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Report on Private Sector Participation in Municipal Solid Waste Services in Developing Countries, Volume 1. The Formal Sector; 1994. p. 21-34.

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