Solid Waste Management Practices and Environmental Repercussion in Wayu Town, Jima Rare Woreda, Ethiopia

Abstract

Solid waste management practices could be effective whenever it is described in terms of their sources, generation rate and their composition. The lack of timely information about the generation and composition of solid waste in Wayu Town may be one factor for improper management of solid waste. As a result, this study was conducted to determine solid waste generation rate per household per day by weight and volume. Additionally, the nature of the solid waste composition was identified which helps in decision making and developing municipal solid waste management systems. The study used the already classified section of the town as 'Got' and the sample population is selected from each 'Got' by purposive sampling. The household sol�d waste generation and composition data were collected and analyzed using SPSS20 Software and questionnaire was summarized in charts, graphs and tables. Hand sorting was used for classifying the collected waste into thirteen fractions: paper, plastic, glass, metal, • food waste, textiles, rubber, wood, dust and soil, ash, hair, bones and miscellaneous groups. The study result shows that in Wayu Town the estimated household solid waste generation rate per household per daj, is 1.23Kg and 0.04Jm 3 by weight and volume respectively. And per day per household solid waste by density are 30kg/m 3. The percentage composition of household solid waste fractions clearly shows that food waste takes the largest proportion and followed by ash, I wood, bones, textiie, miscellaneous groups, dust and soil, paper, plastic, hair, rubber, metal and glass waste by weight; moreover, plastic was ranked first by volume. The result shows, 89% and 68% by weight and volumes respectively are compostable. Moreover, 15% and 48% by weigh and volume; 44% and 7 3% by weight and volumes are recyclable and combustible respectively. Thus, based on the generation rate and composition of solid wastes in study area integrated solid waste management system which combines a range of solid waste treatment options like source reduction, composting and recycling could be applied.