Part 2: Issues in Sustainable Development



Coping with waste is a challenge from both sanitation and environmental perspectives. Hazardous wastes such as pesticide stores and general waste management in the urban environment are particular problems in Africa.

Main Idea

Types of waste and waste management options

Key Concepts

      • Sustainable management of solid waste
      • Dangers of hazardous wastes


Knowledge of

      • organic, inorganic, and toxic waste types

 Understanding of

      • the scale of waste problems
      • the health and environmental concerns of waste

Ability to

      • describe organic and inorganic waste and wastewater recycling options

Core Readings

  1. What is Waste
    Definitions, categories and approaches to waste (2 pages)
  2. Key Facts on Waste Issues
    Key statistics on magnitude of waste (1 page)
  3. Vital Waste Graphics
    Summaries and diagrams related to waste management, pesticide stockpiles, industry, and health (6 pages)
  4. Toxic Chemicals
    Summary of health and environmental concerns related to heavy metals and POPs (3 pages)

Sustainability Strategies

  1. Use of Municipal Waste Water for Forest and Tree Irrigation
    Advantages and disadvantages of using municipal wastewater in agroforestry (9 pages)
  2. Turning Garbage into Gold in Egypt
    Trash pickers in a village outside of Cairo generate income by recycling waste (1 page)
  3. Biodiversity Brochure, “Dune Protection and Management – Namibia,” pages 14-15
    Program encouraging recycling to prevent damage to dune ecosystem from tourism and from dumping (2 pages)
  4. A Livelihood from Waste
    Four groups in one neighborhood show how to specialize in organic, inorganic, and reprocessable waste recycling (2 pages)
  5. Africa Wages War on Scourge of Plastic Bags
    The environmental, economic, and health pros and cons of plastic bags
    (2 pages)

Supplemental Readings

  1. Use of Economic Instruments in Solid Waste Management
    Includes specific examples of economic instruments, and case studies; revenue and non-revenue incentives and disincentives for managing waste (16 pages)
  2. International Waste Trade Bans and Controls
    Summary of policies regarding international trade in waste (5 pages)
  3. Solid Waste Management, pages 37-43 and 49-52
    Categories and definitions of waste; rates and decomposition of solid waste generation in various countries; situations where it is possible to reduce, reuse, recycle; considerations related to landfills and dumping (11 pages)
  4. Overview of Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries
    Overview of Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries Champions’ use of economic instruments rather than command-and-control in environments that lack finances for enforcement and publicly provided services (7 pages)

Assignment Questions

  1. Interconnections: Waste & Health: Explain the concern related to POPs and heavy metals.
  2. Waste: What different types of strategies exist for waste management? Summarize some of the concerns related to recycling.
  3. Waste: What are some of the dangers of poorly stored agricultural and industrial waste?