Challenges associated with household solid waste management (SWM) during COVID-19 lockdown period: a case of ward 12 Gweru City, Zimbabwe

Abstract

waste 35.2 kg, toxic waste 10 kg, and recyclable waste 26.8 kg). A chi-square p value of 0.35 was obtained, showing that there is a relationship between waste disposal strategy used during COVID-19 lockdown period and level of education of the respondents. The research concludes that COVID-19 has greatly affected waste management strategies from generation, collection, transportation, and disposal. It is recommended that the responsible authorities must prioritize collection of waste during the lockdown period as well as ensuring that waste recyclers and collectors are among the essential service providers during the pandemic.

Socio-behavioral assessment of household solid waste management: The case of Barangay Calicanto, Philippines

“…This is likely due to the change of the collection service provider contracted by the City during the conduct of the study [26] along with the impacts of the lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic such as workforce shortages and restrictions on movement. Irregularities in the schedule of the collection during the COVID-19 pandemic were also documented by Owusu-Ansah et al (2022) in Ghana [33] and Dzawanda and Moyo (2022) in Zimbabwe [34]. The significant difference in collection frequencies for the household waste (χ 2 = 26.38, p<0.001) highlights the need to address the variability in waste collection schedule to ensure consistent and timely waste removal.…”

A review of the applicability of Environmental Management Systems in waste management in the medical sector of Zimbabwe

“…This also results in decomposition of medical waste such as pathological waste stored at skipped health institutions; hence, people in the vicinity became vulnerable to environmental health risks that emanate from waste. Moreover, owing to inadequate solid waste collection and conveyance in Zimbabwe, people resort to improper disposal strategies namely onsite burning, burying and illegal dumping (Dzawanda & Moyo, 2022 ; Mafume et al, 2016 ; Pawandiwa, 2013 ). Therefore, unreliable solid waste collection also forces medical institutions to free their onsite waste storage areas using various rudimentary disposal approaches.…”

“…However, environmental consciousness results in embracing of methods diverting solid waste from disposal route in Zimbabwe, but the alternatives are used at lower rate. Barriers to adoption of sustainable solid waste management in Zimbabwe is attributed to weakly enforced legislation (Jerie, 2013 ), financial constraints and unawareness among waste generators and handlers coupled by utilisation of inadequate data (Dzawanda & Moyo, 2022 ; Nhubu & Muzenda, 2019 ; Zikali et al, 2022 ). Therefore, management of solid waste from Zimbabwean medical sector is evolving slowly due to these challenges.…”

Medical solid waste management status in Zimbabwe

“…Medical solid waste is viewed as disposed waste generated from activities such as health protection, diagnosis, treatment, dental and scientific research [ 1 – 3 ]. However, this type of waste is also generated at household level during utilisation of dialysis, insulin injections and animal treatment in rural areas [ 4 , 5 ]. This implies that medical solid waste is confronting both rural and urban areas, hence demand attention.…”

“…This is because medical facilities in Zimbabwe generate a mixture of both hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste [ 31 , 32 ]. In the Zimbabwean context, improper management of medical solid waste is ascribed to fragmented weakly enforced solid waste policies and legislations [ 5 , 26 , 33 ]. Nonetheless, regardless of medical solid waste growth and existence of various management challenges in Zimbabwe its literature is limited compared to the quantity generated.…”