HOUSEHOLD BASED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SMALL TOWNS IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF HADERO TOWN, KAMBATA TAMBARO ZONE

Abstract

The poor handling and implementation of solid waste management practices is still growing problem in developing countries. Hadero town, like any small towns in southern Ethiopia, has poor solid waste management.. The major objectives of this study are to assess the current municipal solid waste management service.. So as to achieve the expected objectives, data were collected from data sources questionnaire, interview, field measurement and personal observation. The secondary data were collected from document analysis. The relevant data from both sources gathered through probability and non-probability sampling techniques. The analysis was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The finding of this study indicated that low, middle and higher income households averagely generate 0.2kg/cap/day, 0.242kg/cap/day and 0.295kg/cap/day respectively. The total households waste generation rate of Hadero town is 0.232kg/cap/day. This made the daily total solid waste generation of households to 9,744kg and from this total generation of SW 69% is uncollected and disposed an illegal site of the town. Whereas only 31% were collected properly As a result, it is recommended that all concerned stakeholders should give focus on basic components of solid waste management practices to manage an illegal disposing system in the town. The municipality has provided an adequate place for common municipal container and setup micro and small enterprise solid waste collector, prepare and implement rules and regulation which emphasized on the issue SWM, develop efficient controlling mechanism and environmental sanitation agents to prevent illegal solid waste disposal.