Current Solid Waste Management Practices and Problems in Woliata Sodo Town, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the existing solid waste management (SWM) practices and problems in Wolaita Sodo town by collecting data using structured questionnaire and checklist. A cross-sectional design and a multistage sampling method was employed to select representative households (HHs) and purposive sampling technique was used to select Key Informants (KIs). A total of 408 respondents (378 HHs and 30 KIs) participated in the study. The results indicated that the places where community containers located were not appropriate (93.0 % of HHs), waste collection containers were not enough (100%) and had no cover (28.0%). Only half of HHs had access to SW collection service. All study participants reported the presence of open type waste transporting facility at the municipality level but 83.3% of KIs and 97.0%of HHs indicated absence of known fixed schedule for transporting the collected waste. The methods of disposal used include open burning (27.0%), burying in the ground (5.4%) and open dumping outside disposal site of the town (78.4%). Nearly three-quarters of KIs reported the absence of responsible body to control and manage the open disposal site. Among the 17 major SWM problems listed by KIs, 12 (70.6%) were rated as very serious and these were reported by about 87.0% of the KIs. The study revealed that the SWM practices and services at both HH and municipality level of Wolaita Sodo town was weak in terms of status as well as spatial coverage and service delivery is entangled by many very serious problems. Therefore, the town municipality must develop an appropriate SWM plan and implement it to improve the services, raise public awareness to increase participation in practices, increase stakeholders’ involvement and enforce regulations and laws.

Keywords: Woliata Sodo, Solid Waste, SW management, SW management practice, waste disposal