Identifying the Leverage Points in the Household Solid Waste Management System for Harare, Zimbabwe, Using Network Analysis Techniques

Phyllis Rumbidzai Kwenda (), Gareth Lagerwall, Sibel Eker and Bas van Ruijven
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Phyllis Rumbidzai Kwenda: Department of Agricultural Engineering, School of Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Carbis Road, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3201, South Africa
Gareth Lagerwall: Department of Agricultural Engineering, School of Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Carbis Road, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3201, South Africa
Sibel Eker: International Institute of Applied System Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: Managing household solid waste (HSW) has gone beyond what the Harare local government can handle. Inadequate knowledge of the interactions existing between issues that affect the efficient running of waste management systems is one of the major hindrances in waste management planning in developing countries like Zimbabwe. The complexity of the waste management system for a given municipal area needs to be identified and understood to generate appropriate and efficient waste management strategies. Network analysis (NA) is a methodology extensively used in research to help reveal a comprehensive picture of the relationships and factors related to a particular phenomenon. The methodology reduces the intricacy of large systems such as waste management to smaller and more understandable structures. In this study, NA, which was done mainly using the R software environment, showed a result of 1.5% for network density, thus signifying that for Harare, waste management strategies need to be ‘seeded’ in various parts of the system. The Pareto principle and the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) concept were applied to suggest the issues to prioritize and generate strategies that could potentially affect significant change to the city’s waste management system. The key issues identified, in their order of importance, are an increase in uncollected waste, low waste collection efficiency, increase in illegal waste dumping, the deteriorating country’s economy, reduced municipal financial capacity, reduced municipal workforce capacity, inadequate or unreliable waste data, increase in waste volume, increase in the number of street vendors, no waste planning and monitoring unit, no engineered landfills in the city, increase in waste collection pressure, low waste collection frequency, increase in the unemployment rate, reduced municipal technical capacity, few waste collection vehicles, limited vehicles maintenance, distinct socio-economic classes, high vehicles breakdown, and increase in population.

Keywords: household solid waste management; network analysis; leverage points; PAJEK; VOSviewer; R; Harare; Zimbabwe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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