Solid waste management during Covid-19 pandemic: policy gaps and prospects for inclusive waste governance in Nigeria

Abstract

Solid waste management (SWM) is a public health service whose importance is often understated. When the solid waste management challenge is exacerbated by a public health emergency such as the Covid-19 pandemic, its real significance as an essential service becomes more apparent. The outbreak and spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has led to dramatic transformations of every sector of the Nigerian society including SWM systems, where formal and informal actors co-exist often in an uneasy relationship. Unfortunately, strategies for inclusive management of solid wastes during and after the Covid-19 pandemic are lacking in Nigeria, fuelling the further exclusion of informal sector in the waste governance and policy process in Nigeria. This paper reviews the state of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria, identifies policy gaps in solid waste governance and highlights the linkages between Covid-19 and SWM with a view to catalysing inclusive solid waste governance and sustainability policy in Nigeria. It is argued that acknowledging the informal economy is the critical first step towards framing a sustainable SWM policy in which primary stakeholders are involved.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced waste scenario: A short overview

“…The continuousness of the waste management services together with the goals of waste minimization and recycling should be the ultimate policy response alongside with the COVID-19 health safety response as the waste management has a distinct relationship with the public health security and development [ 48 , 64 ]. Governments need to direct viable considerations in maintaining a high level of collection, disposal followed by treatment and recycling of plastic wastes to effectively manage the waste generated during the current and post pandemic period [ 65 ].…”

“…For the developing nations, prospective attention from the authorities and the policy makers should be devoted on the waste workers (particularly, from the informal sector) who have been recognized as the most vulnerable group during this unprecedented period among the working sector. A comprehensive health care and protection support (by providing adequate PPEs) and financial assistance need to be professed and mandated in the policy response and further inclusion of the informal sector in framing the waste management policy need to be reevaluated for the group of people who by compromising their lives protects the community [ 64 ].…”

Challenges, opportunities and progress in solid waste management during COVID-19 pandemic

“…On the other hand, during lockdown due to restricted travel, work from home, increased online shopping, and higher food consumption at home have contributed tremendously to household waste. In contrast, the waste generated from several kinds of mass gatherings is prevented[ 16 ], [ 17 ]. Politecnico di Torino (Italy) has predicted that during phase 2, when the public activities resume, the monthly demand for masks and gloves will increase to 1 billion and half a billion, respectively [ 18 ].…”

COVID-19 Pandemic and Informal Urban Governance in Africa: A Political Economy Perspective

“…With the partial and full opening up of markets and businesses in order to sustain the economy of the country and the livelihoods of Nigerians, especially the low-income earners who depend on regular market transaction to sustain them, the likelihood of spread of COVID-19 remains high (Nzeadibe and Ejike-Alieji, 2020). This is because social distancing and isolation are difficult to enforce in the market places, most of which are crowded and in which most of the stakeholders are not abreast of the dynamics and issues around the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Some evidence from a recent study of solid waste management and its importance in public health emergencies including identification of policy gaps in local governance in the context of COVID-19 aimed to catalyse inclusive governance and sustainability policy in Nigeria (Nzeadibe and Ejike-Alieji, 2020). In as much as COVID-19 is a public health challenge, we argue that given the largely informal urbanism in many African cities, the COVID-19 pandemic should be seen more as a social and political economy issue with implications that call for rethinking of African urbanism and urban policy.…”