A hierarchical cluster-based segmentation analysis of potential solid waste management health hazards in urban Ethiopia

Abstract

Many interventions were sought in the past to address the human health and aquatic life implications associated with poor Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) practices. Majority of such interventions failed to recognise that such human health risks and threats to aquatic life are to a large extent moderated by unique characteristics of different urban and rural spaces where such waste is generated. They failed to employ multiple criteria-based evaluation models that are appropriate in depicting the complex and often interrelated criteria inherently associated with MSWM. This study used the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) to evaluate several interdependent variables that define human health and aquatic life hazards associated with poor MSWM practices. Specifically, HCA was used to identify relative similarities among, and distances between a sample of 26 Ethiopian cities and towns in terms of MSWM health threats. Results indicated that threats to human health and aquatic life are surmountable for cities whose economies are relatively low and lacking capacity in terms of SWM infrastructure, acceptable institutional arrangements and better health-care facilities to deal with associated SWM-induced human health risks. Risk of flood waters owing to low altitude has also compounded the urban health conditions in such cities. Despite being better positioned, the analysis observed that some bigger cities still face problems in terms of effective land use planning policies, commitment towards implementing effective SWM programmes as well as the absence of water safety management plans. It concluded by proposing a number of targeted interventions seeking to improve the human health conditions of cities failing to cope with uncollected waste.

Reducing waste management scenario space for developing countries: A hierarchical clustering on principal components approach

“…HCA is based on the assumption that data are correlated with a cluster but independent between clusters, so checking the relative stability of the clusters is a requirement (Colin Cameron et al, 2008; Gondo, 2019). The Kruskal Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests evaluated the stability of the clusters formed.…”

“…This study implemented PCA and HCA. They are complementary tools for exploring data used in many fields, including WM studies (Bennis & Bahi 2014; Gondo, 2019; Isibor et al, 2020; Koh et al, 2022; Kwon et al, 2018; Maugeri et al, 2021; Rahman & Rahman, 2020; Zolfaghari et al, 2019). While PCA reduces the dimensionality of multiple variables for each country into a few representatives called principal components (PCs), HCA uses the reduced components to characterise similarities between countries and group them into homogenous clusters.…”

“…The distance between each point was calculated using the squared Euclidean distance. The number of clusters to be chosen was determined using the ‘step of elbow’ on the agglomeration curve (Gondo, 2019; Güleryüz, 2020). Finally, the result was presented on a tree-like structure known as a Dendrogram.…”

“…As a single metric cannot fully explain the WM system (Wendling et al, 2020), multiple variables were combined to characterise similarities between the countries. While few previous studies tried to characterise local administrations based on multiple WM-related factors (Gondo, 2019), no efforts were made to understand the underlying similarities between countries. Thus, considering the holistic nature of the WM system, this study presents a novel holistic planning approach to clarify underlying characteristics that facilitate efficient scenario development for developing countries.…”

Urban Households’ Willingness to Pay to Improve Municipal Solid Waste Collection Services and Associated Factors: A Double-Bounded Contingent Valuation Study in Harar City, Ethiopia

“… 1 , 2 These practices seriously endanger the population’s health and the environment, as only 2% receive solid waste collection services. 3 Because of the existing poor waste management system, such as a traditional mode of waste collection and poorly planned and operated landfills, cities have neither adequate nor acceptable levels of practice in solid waste collection and disposal. 4 The main challenge in the waste management sector is that the municipality has the only responsibility (including financial and resources).…”