THE IMPACT OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ON EMPLOYMENT CREATION. A CASE STUDY OF BISONS SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, JINJA MUNICIPALITY, JINJA DISTRICT
SECTION ONE
Introduction
This section presents the background of the study, problem statement, purpose of the study, specific objectives, research questions and significance of the study.
Background to the study
Urban solid waste management is considered to be one of the most serious environmental problems confronting developing countries [Sinha and Enayetullah, 2000] and Jinja Town in Uganda is no exception. Economic implosion in Uganda has resulted in high levels of unemployment estimated at 80% [Kairiza, 2009]. This has led to the growth of home industries and high density suburbs. Solid waste generation in these suburbs is very high given their spatial extent and population. This is putting much pressure on the waste disposal system in place and as a result a lot of waste is left uncollected creating a health hazard.
Waste management refers to the collection, transport, recovery, and disposal of waste, including the supervision of such operations and after-care of disposal sites. It concerns itself with the existing amount of waste, trying to minimize the human-waste or environment-waste interface and to minimize potential impact. The term municipal solid waste can be used to refer to solid waste in urban areas. They include residential, commercial, street sweeping, construction and demolitions, sanitations and industrial wastes that end up in municipal waste stream (Rushbrook, 1999). There is no single source of these waste but the major sources includes street and public place, hospitals, commercial places like hotels and restaurants, offices and households or residential wastes, however industrial wastes that does not end upon municipal waste streams are not considered municipal solid waste.
Generally, in developing countries the population of people and urbanization rate is becoming high with East Africa and Uganda not an exception. Additionally, the urban dwellers consume more resources than rural people and hence generate large quantities of solid waste and sewage. Thus the problems and issues related to municipal solid waste management have been of immediate significance.
There are an estimated 5,700 to 11,300 waste-related jobs within the European. Up to 5,000 jobs may have been created in solid waste management in 1994 (Arnold, 1995). For the United Kingdom, if an ambitious but achievable recycling target of 70% for municipal waste was set and achieved by 2025, then conservative estimates suggest that across the UK this could create 29,400 new direct jobs in recycling, 14,700 indirect jobs in supply chains and 7,300 induced jobs in the wider economy relative to 2006.
Urbanization in Uganda and particularly in Jinja municipality has brought about concentration of population that generate waste and due to limiting resource availability, the increased population in the state capital has not witnessed the corresponding basic infrastructure or facilities that could facilitate effective disposal. The city is being characterized by heaps of indisposed refuse or open dump on streets, highways, markets, residential areas and the community at large (Lukman, 2014).
Urban local government authorities in Uganda are responsible for solid waste management services. They however lack adequate infrastructure, operate in an insufficient institutional setup, and have limited financial and technical resources. Bisons Solid waste management company. steps in to bridge this gap by providing the following services which are customized to client’s specification and need; Commercial Waste Collection, Bisons provides collection, handling and transportation of waste for commercial clients. This ranges from: Industrial Waste Management, Radioactive waste management, Tar (from fuel processing, Nuclear Liability Management (NLM). The company also does domestic waste collection; the service includes door-to-door collection services, which involves removing refuse from household placed in bags or tied in bundles on a weekly basis, removal of illegal dumping, street cleaning and all efforts are undertaken to prevent illegal dumping through educational programmes and interaction with the community. House to house, one to one or community talks and workshops. Also waste from health care activities (radioactive waste); the waste produced in the course of health care activities carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other types of waste. Inadequate handling and disposal of healthcare waste may have very serious public health care consequences and very significant impacts on environment.
Within the field of solid waste management, there has been considerable debate on the employment effects that may occur from shifts in policy. It has been argued that recycling and other solid waste management activities create employment, and in particular may provide initial routes into employment for the socially excluded or the low skilled. At the same time, the increased cost of solid waste management may lead to the loss of (potentially higher quality) jobs in other sectors of the economy. This study has been commissioned in response to the above background, to establish the impact of solid waste management on employment creation.
Problem Statement
However, several companies such as Bisons Solid Waste Management Company and others have been put in place to collect waste and as a result people have been employed both educated and uneducated to ensure that the company activities are executed. Despite, its existence unemployment levels in Jinja Municipality still remain high. This study will seek to establish the impact of solid waste management on employment creation.
Purpose of the Study
The main aim of the study is to establish the impact of solid waste management on employment creation. A case study of Bisons Solid waste management company.
Specific Objectives
The study will be guided by the following objectives:
- To determine the contribution of recycling process to employment creation.
- To investigate the influence of solid waste collection and transportation on employment creation.
- To suggest the best way or options towards improving on solid waste management in Jinja Municipality.
Research Questions
- What are the sources, nature and types of solid waste generated by Jinja Municipality?
- What are the current job opportunities generated by solid waste management in Jinja Municipality?
- What problems are associated with the current solid waste management in Jinja Municipality?
- What are the best ways or options towards improving on solid waste management in Jinja Municipality?
Scope of the study
The study will establish the impact of solid waste management on employment creation. Specific emphasis will be put on the sources, nature and types of solid waste generated, current job opportunities generated by solid waste management, problems associated with the current solid waste management and the best way or options towards improving on solid waste. The study will be carried out in Bisons Solid waste management company because it has the tender to do solid waste management activities in Jinja municipality. The study will be carried out for a period of four months from February to May, 2017.
Significance of the study
Additionally community and authority will gain information about their solid waste management and hence provoking a debate which will act as a tool towards the best priority towards solid waste management
The findings of the study will also highlight the roles of different stakeholders and extent to which they have to be active in waste management practices. Therefore, partners in this development could use the information in identification of income opportunities related to solid waste management
It’s hoped that the study will generate knowledge for future development of the company.
It’s also hoped that the study will be a referential to other researchers.
This section describes the literature related to the subject based on the specific research objectives.
2.1 Solid Waste Management
Occurring due to increasing urbanization, industrialization and rapid population increase, the increasing rate of pollution is continuously poising individual’s, public and the environment to a wide range of risks and uncertainties that may negatively utter the overall performance. Additional people are becoming aware that the economy cannot survive without the environment thus the passive thinking of environment acting as sinks for pollution and sources of raw materials are now considered as accidental thus people are moving towards a close loop consumption and production where waste need to be avoided so as to prevent pollution and protect the environment, term known as sustainable development (Kyoto Protocol)
Among the pollution problems, the SWM is one of the challenges facing many urban centers worldwide owing to increasing urbanization and urban population and aggregation of other factors like poor government legislation and public budgets, thus if nothing is done the negative environmental, socio-economic impacts will continuously occur.
SWM involve purposive collection, transportation, storage and disposal of solid waste and its generally taken up by government or municipal authority in urban centers. The format of this however varies from different urban areas. For instance the authority may decide to employ solid waste private contractor to collect waste or by government agency itself (Zerbock, 2003).
SWM has become a major concern in developing countries. In Uganda this problem is compounded by the rapid urbanization as well as urbanization population increase just like in other developing countries (Thomas, 1998). According to UNEP, (1996) report advocates for an integrated approach to SWM by identifying key stakeholders and their responsibilities, identification of the major specific stumbling blocks and strategies as well as technologies to overcome MSW problems. Additionally Thomas, (1998) advocates that for SWM to be successful, local information from indigenous people, pressing human and environmental concerns need to be taken into account. Therefore, SWM is not just a mere concern for urban authority but international bodies, NGOs, researchers and academicians, individuals and general public serious phenomenon.
Zebrock, (2003) stated that one to two third of SW generated is not collected. NEMA in its 1999 report stated that public agents and urban authorities do not have enough adequate capacity to handle increased SW mainly as a result of limited public budgets. The consequences of these failures are health hazards resulting from environmental pollution and degradation due to indiscriminate disposal of MSW.
2.1 Types and nature of solid waste
The MSW management problems differ from one place to another depending on the level of urbanization, industrialization and population. In most developing countries Uganda inclusive, the composition of the MSW generated is quite different from that of the developed countries. Generally developed countries produce more MSW estimated between 0.7 to 1.8 kg per person/ day than developing countries 0.4 to 06 kg/ person /day (Elight and Mbade, 1996)
Therefore, its important to know the nature and composition as well as types of MSW generated, the individual, public and environmental issues related to particular or MSW Type and nature, understand the political and economic framework of government in which the government is operating before one can examine the possible strategies, options, opportunities for MSW Management.
2.2 Major sources of municipal solid waste
A wide range of human induced factors or aspects as well as Natural resources contributed to MSW streams. The major sources include;
- a) Industrial wastes
Industrial waste that ends up in MSW streams like packaging materials like tins, cavera’s (polythene bags) and papers. This takes many forms of combustible, non- combustible, biodegradable and non- biodegradable wastes. Typically they include both processed and non processed waste. The non processed waste is where office waste and packaging waste are categorized. Processed wastes are mainly upon products manufactured which end up being dumped in the environment after their lifespan expires like spoilt food, metal wastes (scraps), rubber wastes, plastic wastes, environmental chemists also classified mining waste under this category.
- b) Households/residential/ domestic wastes
Wastes from household activities like food wastes, both during and after cooking processes, wasted papers, plastics, metals, rugs among others from our daily activities that required to be disposed off.
- c) Commercial sources
This include garbage’s and rubbish from households, offices, hotels and restaurants, bars, happening places, markets, street sweeping and leaves. Garbage is referred to biodegradable mainly food wastes and papers. Combustible waste includes papers, tires, clothes, while some are non- combustible like glasses, metals, cans and containers. Additionally, a part from the above commercial waste, the following SW may be encountered like ashes, dead animals, abandoned vehicles, construction and demolition wastes, septic tanks sludge’s, pipes, wires and other electronics.
- d) Agricultural wastes
This is as a result of farm feeds, livestock wastes like cow dung, ash and baggose from sugarcane, slaughter house, marine and house waste.
- e) Special waste/ Hazardous waste
These are hazardous in nature and need special care and precaution and well personal protective equipment while dealing with them. They include radioactive waste from power plants, laboratory and hospitals, toxic substance like heavy metals sludge, pesticides and pharmaceuticals and miscellaneous waste like inflammable, corrosive, explosive and security waste.
2.3 Solid waste management and income opportunity
In his 1998 study in Kenya Kim observed that for successful improvement of communities in SWM, it must not only address the needs for improving the environment but should also provide income generating opportunities so as to a strong link bond can exist between improving the MSW management and the community. Together with the support from NGOs as well as community based organization, this will promote internal solidarity around the shared concerns that will in turn result into increasing pressure towards demanding accountability by all stakeholders involved towards improving municipal solid waste management.
A single fact of MSW management technique is recycling. This is usually taken as a survival strategy alongside reuse of refuse by the poor. Recycling and reuse tend to reduce the quantity of waste to be disposed off but also is a stepping stone towards pollution control. Additionally recycling help to employ the urban poor and thus they can earn income like through popular scrap (refuse recyclable material) selling hence this will indirectly improve on the urban MSW state. A typical example is plastic bottles recycling. Reuse on the other hand enables the urban poor to survive on the waste material by urban rich. This act reduce waste accumulation into MSW streams but also tend to help the urban poor to met their basic requirements of life and thus therefore recycling and reuse indeed should be integrated in SWM in away that the urban poor/ community can benefit form waste management strategies and options through employment.
However, inspite of the above environmental and social benefits of waste recycling and waste reuse, it does come with negative impacts like exploitation of waste collectors, by waste buyers, poor health and safety working conditions for urban poor that deals in waste collection. (Furedy 1992) thus there is need for improvement of employment conditions as well as access to support services as well as enhancing markets improvement for the recyclable waste. Kim however argued that there is risk of formalizing the sector since it would alienate the urban poor that depend on the sector for livelihood. Thus waste picking is already a highly recognized activity towards SWM.
This section presents about the research design, sampling procedures, sample size, data collection instruments used, procedure and data analysis.
The study will use a descriptive research design. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to acquire information on the impact of solid waste management on employment creation. This will enable the researcher to gather a wide range of information required by the objectives of the study.
3.2 Area of Study
The study will be carried out in Bisons Solid waste management company because it has the tender to do solid waste management activities in Jinja municipality.
3.3 Target Population
According to Baron, (2011), population constitutes people-individuals, organizations, groups, communities or other units that provide information for the study. The population of this study will include: management and staff of Bisons solid waste management company, leaders at the municipal in Jinja Municipality.
A sample size is a part of a population methodologically selected for purposes of drawing a conclusion about a population and its characteristics (Allan, 1962). In this case therefore, the sample size will be made of 30 respondents.
| Category | No. of respondents |
| Management | 5 |
| Staff | 23 |
| Local leaders | 2 |
| Total | 20 |
3.2 Sampling Procedure or Technique
A sample technique will be a way of gathering statistical information where few elements or individuals will be chosen out of the population to present the whole population. The researcher will use a simple random sampling technique where the essence will be to allow every member of the population to get an equal opportunity to be included in the study and to reduce biases in selecting samples.
The data to be collected will be primary and secondary in nature. Primary data will be collected from respondents through the use of questionnaires and interview guide. The secondary data will be collected from Library, research reports, journals, articles inform of literature review which will provide information related to the study.
3.4 Data collection and instruments
Questionnaire
In order to get reliable and accurate data, the researcher will use a questionnaire. The questions will be answered by the use of a tick in the provided space/box as well as filling in answers in the dashes provided. The research instruments to be used will include structured questionnaires with pre-coded answers administered to the respondents. The instruments will be pre- tested and discussed with the supervisors to ensure their reliability and validity.
Interviews
An interview is a conversation where questions are asked and answers are given. Interview refers to a one-on-one conversation with one person acting in the role of the interviewer and the other in the role of the interviewee. The researcher will strive to get first-hand information by making appointments with individual respondents to answer questions related to the study topic.
Before data collection, the researcher ensured the approval of the research instruments especially the interview guide; obtained the introductory letter from the university; introduced herself to the authorities, sought participants’ consent and made appointments when to meet them for interviews and data collection, and the data collected was analysed.
3.9 Quality Control
There are no scientific principles which would guarantee a valid and reliable questionnaire, but there are ways in which this can be pursued. First, the items in the questionnaire should be based on prior research whenever possible. Due to this, in this study most of the questions will be based on prior research. Secondly, the questionnaire should be pre-tested (Malhotra & Birks 2007).
3.9.1 Validity of research instruments
To test the construct validity, citations of all sources where materials and evidence of material collected from will be provided. The supervisor will review the questionnaires and approve them.
3.9.2 Reliability of the Study
When conducting research, the researcher will try to act as neutral as possible in order to avoid being bias. The researcher will also be conscious about the type of questions to ask.
The data collected will be edited for accuracy, completeness and to find out how well the answered questionnaires are and this will be done in line with the questionnaires. The edited data will be coded. Coding will involve assigning numbers to similar questions from which answers will be given unique looks to make the work easier. In this case Ms-excel will be used to analyze the coded data.
Presentation of data will involve the use of tables, pie-charts and graphs that will be generated from the questions relevant to the study variables. Interpretation and discussion of the results will be done as the researcher will explain the strength of the study variables basing on the frequencies and percentages, charts and graphs.
3.11 Ethical Considerations
The researcher will collect data upon seeking respondents’ consent after revealing the type of information needed and the purpose to avoid potential concealment of vital information.
The researcher also will maintain confidentiality of respondents’ information; and will report the true findings of the study without any bias.
3.7 Limitations and delimitations of the study
The study will involve the following constraints;
- The time allowed to do this research will be not enough to allow exhaustive study and obtain all the essential information for much more suitable conclusions. The problem will be minimized by putting much effort on this research so as to meet the deadline.
- The Researcher will be limited by financial resources such as the transport costs and stationery to carry out her research effectively. In an effort to mitigate this shortcoming, the researcher will source for funds from a few sponsors.
- Slow or non- response: Since the researcher does not know the kind of respondents to deal with, some of them might fail to respond or delay to do so. The researcher will make convenient appointments with the respondents and encourage them to respond and give true information in time.
- High expectations from the respondents in exchange of information. To overcome this, the researcher will make sure that the respondents provide information voluntarily and willingly.
