Recycling inorganic domestic solid wastes: results from a pilot study in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

Abstract Solid waste recycling and recovery approach can be a sustainable and effective waste management system in many growing cities of the least developed countries. In the course of achieving proper solid waste management, a lot of efforts in these countries have, however, been focused more on collection and disposal and ignored waste recycling which can result into income generation, employment creation and reduction of the waste quantities that will finally require disposal in the existing municipal landfills or disposal sites. This paper reports the findings of a study on solid waste recycling in a selected semi-planned settlement in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania. The objective of the study was to describe the existing solid waste management in the study area with a view to identifying the waste generation rates, types of the wastes and determine the amount of waste from the settlement that can be recycled for the purpose of income generation and reduction of the total amount of waste to be disposed of. Findings from this study revealed that waste generation rate in the study area was 0.36 kg per person per day, and that out of the 14 600 kg of recyclable waste generated per year, 8030 kg or 55% can be recycled and generate a per capita income of Tsh 834 000 for waste recyclists which is more than twice the official minimum annual wage (Tsh 360 000) in Tanzania at the time of the study. The study also revealed that effective waste recycling in the study area would result in the reduction of the total waste that need to be transported for final disposal by 11%.