Methodology to Investigate Indigenous Solid Waste Systems and Practices in the Rural Areas Surrounding Maseru (Kingdom of Lesotho)

Abstract

Solid waste management (SWM) is the greatest challenge facing environmental protection and human wellbeing in the rural communities of Maseru (Kingsom of Lesotho). A lack of formal waste management (WM) systems in rural areas of Maseru have resulted in different indigenous systems and practices of SWM. Direct observation and descriptive designs will be employed. This is a mixed methods study of qualitative, quantitative and, non-experimental. We obtained data sets from existing official census and statistics of Maseru. We sampled 693 participants from total population of 6917. We received ethical clearance from Research Ethics committee of Health Sciences at the University of Johannesburg, we recruited six field workers. We have preventive equipment (sanitizers, masks, and sterile latex gloves) for COVID-19 infections in place; we have specific design on caps, masks and bags that will identify field workers as they collect data. We will train field workers, administer questionnaires, interview, and observe participants. STATKON will analyse data. The research will share the results with the Ministry of Environment and the community in Lesotho. The results will also be used to educate the rural communities on improved WM. Where weaknesses are identified, mitigation measures can be evaluated and implemented to rectify the negative aspects and improve the systems and practices. The rural communities face challenges such as waste collection services and sanitation facilities and this fact points out that there is a gap in SWM, which favours the existence of indigenous systems and practice of SWM.

A Critical Analysis of Indigenous Systems and Practices of Solid Waste Management in Rural Communities: The Case of Maseru in Lesotho

“…This paper builds on the paper by [ 1 ] which outlined the methodological approach to investigate indigenous systems and practices relating to solid waste management in the rural areas surrounding Maseru. It was mandatory for this study to receive ethical clearance from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and relevant authorities in Lesotho.…”

“…The population stands at about 2.2 million people of which an estimated 60% live in rural areas. Maseru is the capital city with a population of about 120,000, of which an estimated 6917 reside in rural villages [ 1 ]. The World bank classifies Lesotho as a lower-middle-income country, with poverty levels having stagnated at around 30% between 2020 and 2021.…”

“…The waste generation split by income category in Maseru is reported by the Bureau of Statistics [ 5 ] as 27.38 tonnes from low income, 41.98 tonnes from middle-income and 14.71 tonnes from high-income households. The absence of formal waste collection systems in the rural communities of Lesotho is a concern from both environmental and health perspective [ 1 ]. Uncollected household waste including soiled nappies, food waste, sand, gravel, paper, plastics packaging, metal, and glass are known to contribute to several environmental impacts [ 6 ] while also leading to human health impacts.…”

Analyzing the factors impacting solid waste system among rural areas in Chhattisgarh

“…Analysis/method Objective Findings (Senekane et al, 2021) The daily garbage production on campus is 148 kg, compared to 92 g per person.…”

“…In 2021 Mpinane Flory Senekane et al, (Senekane et al, 2021) In 2020 Ying Ma et al, (Ma et al, 2020) investigated how policy instruments (infrastructure and information) affected how waste separation behaviors and perceived values (perceived benefit and perceived cost) were viewed. Data were gathered from 689 rural families in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, and an SEM was used for analysis.…”