Lack of solid waste management in rural communities can be a threat to both humans and animals and the environment they live in. Windblown waste is not only an eyesore in the landscape but a hazard to, e.g. children and small stock. The consumption of waste by small stock makes them ill and can kill them, which has a negative effect on the income of many farming communities.
Four students from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute have conducted a study associated to the E-CAP project with the goal to investigate the generation and management of solid waste at household level and to assess the viability of re-cycling of waste in the Odendaal farms of Gründorn South and Nico Noord in the Hardap region, southern Namibia.
Construction of the centralized waste collection facility in Gründorn South
The residents of Gründorn South presented the idea of a centralized collection center for their waste. Through interviews with community members and local experts, community meetings, waste audits, the students together with the community members constructed a central waste collection centre where household waste is sorted and disposed, eliminating the need for unsafe disposal of waste at each household. The centralized waste management is piloted in close collaboration with the community of Gründorn South. Monitoring systems for the recording of waste disposed at the waste management centre as well as the dry sanitation toilets, Otji-toilets that were constructed by the E-CAP project in 2011 were developed and are now implemented by the users of the systems. The findings of this study will be available from the DRFN web site as soon as the report is finalized.
Community representatives and the project team in front of the finalized centralized waste collection centre
