Environmental Sustainability Impacts of Solid Waste Management Practices in the Global South

Abstract

Solid waste management (SWM) is one of the key responsibilities of city administrators and one of the effective proxies for good governance. Effective SWM mitigates adverse health and environmental impacts, conserves resources, and improves the livability of cities. However, unsustainable SWM practices, exacerbated by rapid urbanization and financial and institutional limitations, negatively impact public health and environmental sustainability. This review article assesses the human and environmental health impacts of SWM practices in the Global South cities that are the future of global urbanization. The study employs desktop research methodology based on in-depth analysis of secondary data and literature, including official documents and published articles. It finds that the commonplace SWM practices include mixing household and commercial garbage with hazardous waste during storage and handling. While waste storage is largely in old or poorly managed facilities such as storage containers, the transportation system is often deficient and informal. The disposal methods are predominantly via uncontrolled dumping, open-air incinerators, and landfills. The negative impacts of such practices include air and water pollution, land degradation, emissions of methane and hazardous leachate, and climate change. These impacts impose significant environmental and public health costs on residents with marginalized social groups mostly affected. The paper concludes with recommendations for mitigating the public and environmental health risks associated with the existing SWM practices in the Global South.

How Can Resource-Exhausted Cities Get Out of “The Valley of Death”? An Evaluation Index System and Obstacle Degree Analysis of Green Sustainable Development

“…Since industrial solid waste generally originates from enterprises, it is more conducive to the development of enterprises if they introduce market-oriented means to solve the problem of solid waste utilization [ 92 ]. This includes actively introducing or establishing professional solid-waste treatment companies to treat industrial solid waste [ 93 , 94 ]. Due to long-term coal mining, the ecological environment in coal-resource-exhausted cities is seriously damaged, and the dust pollution and collapse in mining areas are prominent; therefore, constructing mining parks and afforestation, and restoring the urban ecology are key to building ecological restoration in these cities.…”

Biomedical Waste Management among Primary Health Care Workers, Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi State, NIGERIA

“…Waste in soil or water causes pollution of soil and water respectively and reduces fertility of soils in turn leading to high levels of N, P, and K; high levels of toxic metals, which can contaminate the plants with detectable toxic elements levels. It can also spur destruction of soil and water microbes [20,21,22,23]. In the similar vein, the improper management of waste through open dumping, and landfilling releases 17% of the global methane emission.…”

A gestão municipal dos resíduos sólidos urbanos em um município da região sudeste do estado do Paraná: implicações para a sustentabilidade

“…Dentre as práticas inadequadas de gestão de resíduos em cidades do Sul Global, Abubakar et al (2022), destacam a mistura de resíduos, o descarte de resíduos em aterros e lixões e a incineração a céu aberto. Também são evidenciados problemas vinculados à espaços para armazenar os resíduos, como lixeiras públicas, o que interfere na eficácia geral de todo o sistema, especialmente considerando o processo de reciclagem (Aleluia & Ferrão, 2016;Rossit & Nesmachnow, 2022).…”

“…A gestão pública de resíduos geralmente é de responsabilidade dos municípios que fornecem os serviços indispensáveis à população (Rodrigues et al, 2018;Abubakar et al 2022). Segundo Fuss, Barros e Poganietz (2018), devido ao Brasil ser considerado uma das economias em ascensão, a Organização para Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico (OCDE) tem exigido dos municípios brasileiros a administração de sistemas mais sustentáveis de gestão de RSU, equilibrando aspectos sociais, econômicos e ambientais.…”

“…Poucos estudos centraram-se na avaliação de realidades brasileiras específicas (por exemplo, Liikanen, Havukainen, Viana & Horttanainen, 2018;Pereira & Fernandino, 2019). Compreender essas práticas de gestão e impactos no meio ambiente e na saúde humana nas cidades do Sul Global é, portanto, um importante meio para buscar melhorias em realidades urbanas distintas (Abubakar et al, 2022).…”