The Informal Systems of Solid Waste Removal in Dar es Salaam: An Enquiry

solid waste pile at Manzese darajani Dar es salaam.

Solid Waste Removal Problem in Dar es Salaam City
In the last fifteen years, the problem of solid waste removal in Dar es Salaam has continued to occupy the agenda of council meetings. As noted at the beginning. The city of Dar es Salaam has expanded very rapidly beyond the capacity of the councils to provide adequate service. Further, a substantial number of Dar es Salaam residents live in unplanned areas of the city because the pace of city growth has been faster than the pace of providing services and infrastructure development. At the same time, absence of surveyed plots led some families to build their homes in areas that are ecologically fragile – flood prone valleys and swamp areas. These areas are difficult to reach and clean and thus the council is not able to service them adequately.


Dar es Salaam city expanded rapidly in the late 1980s and the whole of 1990s mainly following the rural economic decline, policy changes to market economy and the reforms that were benefiting urban areas than rural (Mhamba and Titus, 2001). The rapid growth of the city which did not match capacity growth led to the rapid development of solid waste removal problem. Individuals began to look for ways of removing solid waste in their areas. The popular burning method regained its popularity even in areas that it was not popular. This was largely because solid waste was becoming a thereat to the heath and lives of the people (Masamu 2007). Different stakeholders began to look at the question of solid waste both as an area with opportunities for income generation activities and others as a problem that need attention.

Several actors are now involved in waste management in the city. There are private actors, municipal agents and community groups that are involved in waste management. Although waste management is an issue of local governments, central government is sometimes involved. Central government moves in to solve the problem of solid waste management particularly whenever there is crisis.

One of the several reasons that contributed to the abolition of the old Dar es Salaam City Council (1996-2000), was the failure of the city to remove solid waste. Before its abolition, the problem of solid waste removal (Particularly between 1990-95) became a political question. Removal efforts were mounted by not only the city council but also Regional Commissioner, Ministers and the President of the United Republic of Tanzania (Mhamba and Titus, 2001).

The main factor that contributed to the crisis of solid waste management was weakness of the then city council as an institution that had unclear strategies of removing solid waste. During this period, city council trucks were not able to collect solid waste even in some of the central areas like Kariakoo, Ilala, Magomeni and Kinondoni. Streets and lanes were interrupted with mountains of garbage and it was common for people to dispose waste in the middle of a street, the only public space available in some areas, where one is comfortable to do so. It was solid during this period when the government allowed private company to move in and collect waste in the city (Multinet Africa was the first private company to collect waste in Dar es Salaam city).


Community Responses to the Problem of Solid Waste Removal
Growing city population, informal settlements and declining capacity of local government authorities to remove solid waste pushed city authorities to allow development of alternative approaches of removing solid waste. These alternatives include the use of private companies noted as above, community based organizations, associations and individuals who collect waste at a fee. The focus of our paper is on the development of informal ways of removing solid waste in Dar es Salaam, although the private sector involvement is another area that we look at.

Informal systems of solid waste removal are not new in Africa as they have been around for quite sometime. Although the current practice of removing waste at a fee is the dominant one, the early version of the informal system was that of burying wastes in pits (both in the open spaces and or backyards). There is another type where collectors do it for free. Their main motivation for doing so is sorting wastes to salvage items that are tradable. Collectors vary from those without facilities to those with push carts.

The levels in Dar es Salaam could be compared with experiences of other cities in Africa. Ragui (1997) points out that in Cairo, some of the solid waste that is collected informally is sorted in different piles where some of the materials are used for feeding animals and others in making products from recycled materials. The popularity of this has made collectors to develop territories where one is allowed to collect or not. He goes further to note that even in the same territory different operators have different customers, where they have specific days and alarms they use to signal their arrival. The competition is also motivated by the freshness of the garbage which is good for animal feeding. The system has worked so efficiently in Cairo and the municipal authority has found it is difficult to terminate particularly in areas where it is not able to provide services, and the formal system is difficult and expensive to maintain.

Dar es Salaam has not reached the levels of Cairo in competing for solid waste but there are micro forms of this competition that are emerging. Solid waste removal through the informal system requires payment on the spot and some of the collectors have developed spaces which they claim to be their areas and other service providers are informally not allowed to move in. A large portion of garbage in Dar es Salaam is wasted than recycled and thus collectors get very little direct benefit. This is the reason why they charge rather than collect for free.

In an interview with a push cart garbage collector along Swahili Street, Kariakoo area, he noted that, it is the only job that he depends on and the market is very hard to develop. When he began the work, he noted further, it was very slow and the willingness to pay was very poor. According to him, it will be a mistake to allow people to collect in his areas of usual work because he has already invested in time and network. What the narratives show is that solid waste in Dar es Salaam is still a problem not a resource to the collectors.

When asked as to where he disposes waste, he pointed out that he disposes some at public collection points and some in open spaces mainly in Jangwani valley.

…. but Jangwani is a risk area, you must be on the watch because if you are caught doing so, you will invoke trouble (interview January 2008)


By protecting their spaces they are sure about the source of income and know when to visit particular households to collect waste. As a mechanism of securing their spaces, sometimes informal solid waste collectors offer to skip some of the charges or offer at reduced rates to some of their good customers:

Even though this is about garbage collection, you need to protect it because there are people who want jobs from us as well. If you charge too high, people will not prefer you and will refuse to use your services. There are youth who are joining the business and sometimes they move faster than us and their cost is very small. We usually prohibit them from working….. It is hard because sometimes you cannot see them all (Interview January 2008).

We further probed if this implies that he is always on duty and what happens if there are situations when he is not working: The response was as follows

There are three of us who collect garbage using the cart and thus if I have good reason not to work, the rest are able to continue. However, nowadays there is some resistance from the council not to allow us to work. We are told that there are groups that have been licensed to collect waste in specified neighborhoods and residents have to pay 5,000 per month. This implies that our presence interferes with these groups (durable payment). While they collect money in advance, we do collect money on the spot. The problem with group arrangement is that they do not reach all the households at the right time. Sometimes piles of garbage stay for a long period and they began to make horrible smells. Dar es Salaam is a hot and humid city. Nobody wants to stay close to garbage pile because it decomposes very fast. When this happens, they reach us to rescue them and pay us immediately (interview January 2008).

What we are learning from this is that the informal system has a built-in mechanism that makes it relevant to the needs of the people. That is, pay and get the service immediately. There is no waiting and there is no blaming.

Dar es Salaam city recycling practice does not sort waste into different categories. It is the informal system that is doing so in response to market forces. Unlike garbage collectors of Cairo who rush for waste and then sort, in Dar es Salaam these collectors sort and leave the rest behind. This means that still waste has to be removed from the street. This is because there are transit points/common places where people dump waste legally or illegally. Sorters have no interest to carry what they do not need. Another important comparison that needs to be pointed out is that Dar es Salaam has no tribes or villages of solid waste collectors. This is done by individuals who reside within the areas where they operate. Usually they are able to do the work during the day and at night, same for the plastic and metal material collectors, those who are self employed in the sector, do not take collected waste in their residents. In fact some of those in this sector are not able to afford renting a house or live in small backyard rooms.

We must also point out that there is a growing army of plastic material collectors in the city who roam the streets to collect water bottles and other plastic materials. They have joined their counterparts who collect metal scraps and card boards boxes for selling purposes. All of these practices are done by individuals who are not paid at all and they only depend on selling what they have collected. Plastic is one of non biodegradable materials and presence of these collectors is a significant plus to the environment.

Plastic waste in the recent period was on the increase despite the existence of the informal system of plastic waste. This is perhaps due to the development of western life style where people move around with bottled and or packed food and drinks. Further, the growing business and plastic shopping bags explains part of the problem as well. The government of Tanzania noted the increasing levels of solid waste and it has taken measure to control. Plastic materials are not taxed more as an attempt to limit its use. Biodegradable paper papers are now in the market as an alternative shopping bag.

We must also note that unlike Egypt where there are groups of people specialized as waste collectors, sorters and users, in Tanzania there are no specialized groups. Similar to small scale informal traders, small scale dealers in waste collection are also categorized as Machinga.

Development of informal system of solid waste management is a community response to the failures of the city to provide good service. These are efforts to search for a way of living in a quality environment because piles of waste are a health risk. The informal systems of solid waste removal in Dar es Salaam have developed in areas that have the following characteristics:

• They are not accessible by road;
• They are unsurveyed;
• Areas that are unserviced;
• Areas in which municipal trucks are not collecting waste;
• Areas where there are no private companies.
• Developed parallel with the formal system.

In our survey of these areas in the city we found out that these areas tend to be:
• Low income areas;
• Unplanned settlement;
• Un-maintained neighborhoods.

Further, we found out that in some of the areas where there are private companies or municipal government is providing services, informal systems exist. In some parts of the city, garbage collection trucks do collect waste from selected streets and there are common points that are known. The expectation is that all households would deliver waste in this common point, a concept that is partly wrong because there are different factors that limits them from doing so.

This has promoted an informal system where residents who are in the far end pay fees to push cart drivers who then deliver waste to the known point. This pattern is now common even though it has not being allowed by the city authority. The work is largely done by unemployed youths who have capitalized on it as their source of livelihood.

It is important to note here that while some of these informal systems of solid waste removal are filling the gap, there are some negative effects as well. Some of the waste collected is not sent to the common point where garbage trucks can collect. Wastes removed from homes are dumped in open spaces, dead ends and valleys. Because of this some neighborhoods are, environmentally, in bad shape because there are piles of wastes that are not attended.

Wastes disposed in open spaces and valleys contaminate soils, underground water, valley streams and at times piles of waste are blown by wind. At times drainage systems are also blocked which leads to further environmental problems.

In some sections of city, there are no waste bins for disposing waste. This is the reason that makes individuals with push carts to visit homes collecting waste at a fee. Waste disposal bins would have been ideal because people would be able to dispose waste. More areas would have been cleaner than they are now because the process of removing waste would be a lot cheaper.

Turning to the positive side, the informal system of solid waste collection in the city fills an important gap which the city authority is not able to fill currently. This is the reason that has contributed to the continued existence of this system. It is a common practice in some of neighborhoods e.g. Manyanya, Tunisia road and Studio-Mkwajuni areas, for youths and at times children to knock compound gate ways asking for available wastes to dispose at a token.

Similarly the practice suggests that the municipals have another way of collecting solid waste from various homes. This practice is based on the principal of market economy where people pay for their wastes to be removed. Municipal authorities can regulate the sector investing in simple technologies that contribute significantly.

In many several parts of the city the informal system continues to complement to the local government and private sector initiatives of cleaning Dar es Salaam despite the criticism raised against informality in solid waste removal. The continued existence implies that there is a gap that has not being reached by both private and public sector and any initiatives to stop the informal sector will contribute to a decline of cleaningliness at household level. Rather that prohibiting them, the city needs to integrate them as one of the agents of cleaning the city.

Conclusion
For Dar es Salaam to properly manage its solid waste, the informal system is important. It is important because it is filling the gap that the council is not able to address. This is evident because despite having groups, private and public sectors, the informal sector has continued to survive. The population has not reached 5million; the growth is faster than investment in infrastructures. Dar es Salam has to search for ways of fully integrating them.

Although informal systems do not operate for the benefit of the local authority/city, it serves sometimes-clean homestead. What they need is integration into the formal system so that their role is even made appreciated.


This is part of article (unpublished)by Colman T. Msoka•& Nakivona Rajabu
E.mail: msoka@udsm.ac.tz & n-raj@hotmail.com respectively