Appraisal of solid waste collection following private sector involvement in Dar es Salaam city, Tanzania

This paper presents findings of a study, which was carried out in Dar es Salaam city to assess post-privatisation of solid waste collection and disposal. Prior to the assessment, fieldwork studies indicated that current solid waste generation rate in the city is 0.4 kg/cap/day and total waste generation is within the range of 2425 tons/day. This study also indicated that out of the total waste generated, a total of 957 tons/day is collected by the three city municipalities (231 tons/day or equivalent to 10% of the total generation), private solid waste collection contractors (592 tons/day or equivalent of 24.4%) and through recycling (134 tons/day or equivalent of 5.5%). These findings suggest that as a result of privatisation of solid waste collection activities in Dar es Salaam city, solid waste collection has improved from 10% in 1994 to 40% of the total waste generated in the city daily in 2001. The paper recommends that waste recycling and composting activities be encouraged since this approach is considered to be the right measure in attaining sustainability in waste management.