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The recovery of energy from municipal solid waste (MSW) has gained popularity in many industrialized countries, but its adoption in economically developing countries, especially in Africa, has been slow. While capital investments and technical requirements for waste-to-energy (WtE) systems are among the most important causes for this slow adoption, the unavailability of data on the thermochemical quality of MSW as a potential feedstock for energy recovery is also a limiting factor. In this paper, Harare, a typical African city, was selected as a case study. The evaluation was based on the analysis of the MSW’s composition, moisture as-discarded, thermochemical properties and energy content. The results show that the quality of the MSW is comparable to that in regions outside Africa where WtE has been a success. The combustible fraction exceeded 75 wt% making it ideal for thermal treatment without requiring supplementary fuel. With an MSW throughput of 421,757 tonnes year−1 (11.1% of which is recycled), and a lower heating value of 10.1 MJ kg−1, the energetic potential was estimated at 3.8 × 106 GJ. MSW thermal treatment via conventional technologies can reduce the waste throughput to landfills by up to 40%, provide up to 112 GWh year−1 of electrical energy, and increase the annual share of electrical energy produced from bio-fuels and wastes from 1.3% to at least 2.2%. These benefits make thermal MSW treatment a suitable option for waste disposal in African cities.

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Evaluation of the organizational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operational activities of selective municipality was investigated in this study. The selected municipality is located in Songkhla Province, the southern part of Thailand, and is divided into seven functional units. The total GHG emissions were estimated at 16,920.29 ton CO 2 eq. in the fiscal year 2016. The carbon footprints under direct, indirect, and optional indirect emissions (scopes 1, 2, and 3, respectively) were found to be 1129.92, 255.24, and 15,535.13 ton CO 2 eq./year, respectively. The highest carbon footprint was from methane emissions related to solid waste decomposition in sanitary landfills (15,524 ton CO 2 eq./year). Therefore, the main GHG mitigation strategy proposed was the installation of waste to energy recovery in order to reduce waste throughput to the landfill. For specific municipal operations, diesel combustion in municipality-owned vehicles had the highest carbon emission followed by fugitive emissions from refrigerants and electricity consumption (746.92, 289.60, and 255.24 ton CO 2 eq./year, respectively). The important constraints in reducing GHG emissions from upstream and downstream of the organizational activities were identified in terms of time, cost, and data accessibility. Further, convergent cooperation and public participation are also significant for effective implementation of global warming mitigation strategies.