Waste is a resource: A study on the opportunities in a new solid waste management in Iringa municipality

Municipal solid waste refers to waste in a solid form, produced in the daily day life of a society such as packaging, food scrapes, grass clippings, clothing, furniture, paper, electronics and so on. It is called municipal solid waste because it is in the responsibility of the local government and comes from our homes, schools, hospitals and businesses. It is produced 108 tons municipal solid waste in Iringa each day. Iringa district is located approximately 500km from Dar Es Salaam and 263km from Tanzania’s capital Dodoma. Iringa Municipality (IMP) is headquarter of Iringa district, which has an assumed population of 166 237 people. Iringa Municipality have 169 waste collection points, 56 of them are served with skip buckets. Most household waste is disposed of in people’s own back yard and unofficial dumpsites are mostly seen in poor areas with huge lack of served collection points. The skip buckets are transported to the land filling where the waste is compressed and occasionally burned. The 15 acres land filling is located 7 km outside of the city center, close to households in a highly populated area. It is one watchman in charge of the land filling, and he has no particular knowledge about waste management. 22-25 tons of solid waste is disposed of at the land filling each day, this is 20% of the waste produced. As much as 75-80 percent is organic waste, but the most revealing problem is all the disposable plastic bags that can be seen everywhere in the nature. Few options for recycling exist, and open dumping with open burning is the norm. The research has addressed some problems and challenges connected to the current situation that has been chosen as focus areas in this project. The most noticeable ones are: - harmful disposal of waste through burning and burying - lack of knowledge about waste management - poorly managed collection points and land filling - lack of existing systems for recycling - cost inefficient management To approach these areas, four concepts have been chosen for further development: - a new concept for the waste collection points with stations for separation of garbage. - the design of bags from recycled waste to substitute disposable plastic bags. - a ICT system with the intention to educate and inform about waste management and to ease the communication between the users, the workers and the management in the new service. - strategies on how the establishment of CBO’ s can benefit the privatizing of the SWM and how they can contribute to solve the problems addressed in the current situation. The research question for the thesis is focused on the design process of the four concepts: “How can a design approach have effect in a project for solid waste management in Tanzania?” The process has been multi-disciplinary and the approach has been human centered with the aim of making a strategy for the privatizing of the solid waste business that does not exclude anyone in the society. The research tools have been supplemented with the use of some specific design tools. To answer the research question, the effect of those tools has been discussed in the conclusion. The motivation for this project have been to “improve the life of the 166 000 citizens of Iringa, and design a new system that can be adapted to other places in East-AfricaMaster i produktdesig